I offer a challenge

You call your spoon-fed rantings philosophy?

Peter Kropotkin: this is why we have philosophy… to deal with these things…

M: You call your spoon-fed rantings philosophy?

K: I am old and have studied a whole lot of philosophy
and I believe I am doing the best philosophy of anyone on this
site right now…if you or anyone fails to see that, that isn’t my problem…
I will still continue on creating good solid philosophy…

Kropotkin

Well, if you actually construe this to be an adequate response to the posts/points I addressed to you above, let’s call it a…draw?

Come on, tell me you’re not wobbling just a bit. :wink:

Oh, right. Like Uccisore or James or any one of dozens of other right wingers here haven’t said some rather preposterous things about liberals and Democrats.

But, again, that is my point about the objectivists.

Once you have concocted a “world of words” “in your head” about the way the world ought to be, then those who don’t share it become “one of them”.

In fact, I once attempted to encompass this in a frame of mind expressed as a psychological contraption.

Here, see if it rings a bell:

[b][i]1] For one reason or another [rooted largely in dasein], you are taught or come into contact with [through your upbringing, a friend, a book, an experience etc.] a worldview, a philosophy of life.

2] Over time, you become convinced that this perspective expresses and encompasses the most rational and objective truth. This truth then becomes increasingly more vital, more essential to you as a foundation, a justification, a celebration of all that is moral as opposed to immoral, rational as opposed to irrational.

3] Eventually, for some, they begin to bump into others who feel the same way; they may even begin to actively seek out folks similarly inclined to view the world in a particular way.

4] Some begin to share this philosophy with family, friends, colleagues, associates, Internet denizens; increasingly it becomes more and more a part of their life. It becomes, in other words, more intertwined in their personal relationships with others…it begins to bind them emotionally and psychologically.

5] As yet more time passes, they start to feel increasingly compelled not only to share their Truth with others but, in turn, to vigorously defend it against any and all detractors as well.

6] For some, it can reach the point where they are no longer able to realistically construe an argument that disputes their own as merely a difference of opinion; they see it instead as, for all intents and purposes, an attack on their intellectual integrity…on their very Self.

7] Finally, a stage is reached [again for some] where the original philosophical quest for truth, for wisdom has become so profoundly integrated into their self-identity [professionally, socially, psychologically, emotionally] defending it has less and less to do with philosophy at all. And certainly less and less to do with “logic”.[/i][/b]

And I would be very curious indeed to hear the PKs and the Uccisores explain why their own political dogmas are not an expression of this at all. How, instead, they, and only they, really do understand the one truly optimal manner in which to connects dots [rationally and morally] between “in my head” and “out in the world”.

K: I am going to answer this…

I have change both my political philosophy and my philosophical
philosophy multiple times over the years…

I am old enough to recognize that my beliefs are not me… I may not have
been aware of that until recently but I am aware of that now…

I think of it this way… beliefs are like coats… we wear them lightly when
times are good, when times are average we wear them a little tighter
and as times get bad we wear them tighter… and the harder the times,
the tighter we wear our beliefs, just like coats…

I am not my job either and this is important because when people self identify
they self identify as their job… my name is Kropotkin and I am a cashier in a
supermarket… this is how most people self identify, name, then job or career…
I don’t self identify as Kropotkin and then liberal or anarchist… I simply state my
name and if the conversation turns that way, I shall self identify as either
my job or my political beliefs or far more rarely, philosophical…

I am very self contained… I don’t need conformation or validation
from anyone about anything… it is completely irrelevant to me
whether people agree or disagree with me or to be blunt…
if they even like me… don’t care…

I am an outsider and have been all my life…
I have been separated by such things by my physical impairment,
my moving around so much as a youth, by my serious lack of
social skills, by my intellect and by my very nature…

I don’t belong to groups, I rarely socialize with people, I stay by myself
and think by myself… I have no close friends right now… I don’t even
have someone to call if I need a friend to call… and I don’t care…

the work I do is more important then any socialization I may need…

if information should come along that means changing my mind, I shall
do so, such as evidence for the existence for god… I am an atheist because
there is no evidence for god… if evidence should occur, I shall adapt and change…
but short of a phone call from god, I don’t see the evidence happening…

I am devoted completely and totally toward my work which is
creating philosophy and studying philosophy… I spend my days
reading and thinking and writing philosophy… I spend the rest of the
time wasting my time at work… resenting the time away from my
reading and studying and writing …

I have reached my own philosophy, both political and philosophical
through years of thinking and studying and writing…

I am a liberal not because my parent were but because it is
a far better method to approach life then being a conservative…

I am not validated by my philosophy, but I validate my philosophy and
that makes all the difference in the world…

I search for the truth… that is all I do…

Kropotkin