[lbo-talk] More on BB antics and their defenders

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Fri Feb 10 18:01:53 PST 2012


shag carpet bombhow do you guys learn these principles . . .

Out of our ear wax.

If you and I agree that we will send each other an e-mail post each Satuday -- we've created a principle. That's the only basis for any principle: agreement among those who subscribe to it that they will honor it in their actions.

Rousseau (if we follow Tamas) apparently thought God or something had sent down principles from heaven: That made capitalism evil because it violated those principles. Marx (again according to Tamas) didn't accept any such set of principles: Hence for him capitalism was history.

Julio apparently thinks there are binding principles even if others have not agreed to them. They drop from the sky or something.

If, in the example above, I fail to send an e-mail, you can criticize me for violating principle: that is a principled criticism

If I criticize you for sending only a 50 word e-mail, I've made an unprincipled criticism. No principle for length exists because you and I have not created one through agreement.

Carrol



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