Post 1664075 by thor@pleroma.soykaf.com
(DIR) More posts by thor@pleroma.soykaf.com
(DIR) Post #1653426 by thor@pleroma.soykaf.com
2018-12-02T10:43:24.714258Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
"Because postmodern critical theory views the search for truth as always defined by one’s place in an oppression matrix, thinking there’s an objective truth that can be discovered is turned into a moral problem. Seeking objective truth is viewed as an attempt to ‘colonize’ others with our truth claims; and because we are all situated (by time, place, culture, sexuality, etc.), there can be no Truth. In short, seeking objective, non-situated Truth is viewed as an act of oppression. And it is this final turn that has not only put the emancipatory project of the Enlightenment beyond our grasp but also outside of what is deemed morally conscionable."This is the dark side of social justice, and plays into what I posted earlier about the clash between evolutionary behaviourism and the mind-as-a-blank-slate mentality of sosial justice warriors.If the mind is a blank slate, and everything is a social construct, there can be no objective truth about the mind.It's not possible to reach consensus on anything political in a society where one half believes in the tabula rasa and the other half does not. In crucial theory, humans have few if any innate traits and society can be shaped as one pleases. In what you might call traditional theory (which includes Darwinism) humans have a number of innate traits and society must be shaped around these.
(DIR) Post #1660064 by skypage@noagendasocial.com
2018-12-02T17:17:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@thorIf you haven't read CS Lewis' Abolition of Man, I think you'd find it an intriguing read. He talks about the tension between relativism and objective right and wrong.https://archive.org/stream/TheAbolitionOfMan_229/C.s.Lewis-TheAbolitionOfMan_djvu.txt
(DIR) Post #1660659 by yukiame@noagendasocial.com
2018-12-02T17:40:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@thor stop makin' sense
(DIR) Post #1663146 by thor@pleroma.soykaf.com
2018-12-02T19:33:02.596786Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@skypage I hadn't read it but I have read it now. This is not a text you can skim through. It uses that kind of old fashioned flowery language which is best read aloud, or at least read with a clear inner voice.Intriguing indeed. It basically reads as a rejection of nihilism and postmodernism, with his main argument being that if you question everything, you are soon left with nothing, and that it is necessary to have a set of basic axioms to guide rational behaviour. He then proceeds to lay down what he believes these basic axioms to be, based on ancient scripture.I don't believe we need so many axioms, however. We may only need the one axiom he rejects as insufficient: Survival. The things we perceive as good are usually beneficial to survival in some way or the other.Beautiful art is good for survival because it creates in us a sense of well-being, and this sense of well-being aids us in our day-to-day survival, and makes us more attractive as mates. Being cultured also suggests to potential mates that we are resourceful enough to spend time on other things than gathering food and having sex.If you believe in survival; your own, that of your loved ones, of your country, of human kind, you can derive most of ethics from that, and you can also derive why we are able to kill cows while maintaining that murder is bad, without being hypocritical.Our concern is mainly with our own species. Even when environmentalists argue that we should protect nature, they draw on the future of human children as the justification for it. Protecting nature if we're not around to enjoy it seems less important, and few if any environmentalists would argue for the annihilation of the human species in order to save the Earth, even if this would in fact be the most effective way of accomplishing that goal.Even altruism is ultimately selfish, because the goal is to aid another member of our species. We rob the bush of its future offspring by picking its berries in order to feed a starving fellow human. Life is given by taking it.
(DIR) Post #1663482 by thor@pleroma.soykaf.com
2018-12-02T19:46:56.254483Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@skypage High culture is the human equivalent to the feathers of the peacock, a display of abundance; in the human case of both physical and mental abundance, because being a connoisseur of high culture requires an abundance of intellect in addition to an abundance of material resources.Being willing to die for your country seems not all that different from the willingness to die for its offspring or colony found in the males of various species of insects. A sacrifice for the greater good.
(DIR) Post #1664074 by Douglewars@mastodon.club
2018-12-02T19:59:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@thor Someday a critical theory adherent will accidentally walk into a closed door and discover objective reality real quick.
(DIR) Post #1664075 by thor@pleroma.soykaf.com
2018-12-02T20:16:11.371922Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Douglewars Ah, yes, but you see, doors exist to oppress peoole who walk into them. Doors are an unnecessary social construct that must be eliminated!