On Dec 5, 2009, at 7:49 AM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
> if anyone else is still reading, what do you suppose Marx meant by
> this sentence in the quote below? It's metaphorical, not literal but
> I'm not sure what "ad hominem" is standing for here:
> Theory is capable of gripping the masses when it demonstrates ad
> hominem, and it demonstrates ad hominem when it becomes radical. To
> be radical is to grasp things by the root. But for man, the root is
> man himself.
"Theory is capable of gripping the masses when it demonstrates [its truths] *to men and women personally* and it demonstrates *to men and women* when it becomes radical. To be radical is to grasp things by the root. But for man the root is man himself."
"Theory"[philosophy] is "radical" and "grips us" when it demonstrates to each of us not merely the historico/social reality of the species but also that this reality is also the reality about our most urgent personal life-concerns. As Ted Winslow never tires of pointing out, for this to happen demands a certain level of cultural enlightenment.
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos