Hi, I've locked myself out of lj, but couldn't resist catching up on a few friends. Dreams are odd, but that is what makes them so marvellous. That and the hope that they might mean something. Yeah for compost and red wine with family! Keep living your dream, not the American dream. joybon
thanks for the reading, eh. compost/wine/family, agreed. i do hope that you'll share a peak at the product of you labor. share something about the real you, anyway...
The whole don't-check-lj is only working moderately well...I'll be sending you my Machiavelli soon. Thesis is coming along nicely (most people will find it dull, but I am trying to slip in diversions for the reader) and supervisor keeps on asking discomforting questions about what I am going to do next.
I re-read part of your paper just then, I really like this:
A philosopher who, in speech or in text, openly called into question the most fundamental beliefs of his community or “city” would rightly be regarded with suspicion. But, maybe, the more dangerous man would be the one who asked his questions in secret - in the confidence of his fellow conspirators. And, maybe, the most dangerous man of all would be the one who attempted to prevent questions from being asked, for fear of having his valuations contested.Ok so quoting something back to the person who wrote it is a little odd...esp. if I just leave it as 'like'...but there is no space here
( ... )
A professor takes on graduate students with the expectation that they (the grad students) will conduct research that supports that same professor's own academic work. Multiply the effect of that condition by the Straussian (?) teaching that it is necessary to shape human behavior with the public declaration of useful "myths."
"...maybe, the more dangerous man would be the one who asked his questions in secret - in the confidence of his fellow conspirators. And, maybe, the most dangerous man of all would be the one who attempted to prevent questions from being asked, for fear of having his valuations contested."
So...the "right to rule" is believed, by the Straussian initiate, to be derived from intellectual superiority. The professor becomes the "founder."
I think that the same principle is at work in most grad programs; but, maybe, most practioners are less conscious of it.
It's easier to see propaganda "writ large in the city" (per Plato's Republic) - but it's in other places as well...eh
( ... )
propaganda, propaganda everywhere and not a...
anonymous
April 25 2006, 15:09:13 UTC
Quoting me, quoting you, back at me. Nice.
I think that the same principle is at work in most grad programs; but, maybe, most practioners are less conscious of it.
I think you are right generally, although my supervisor who is the head of philosophy at ANU remarked to me yesterday that most of his grad students tend to disagree with him. At my uni at least, it happens a lot in human rights law (where values come into it) and International Relations. Some have the kind of power described by Anne Norton in Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire.
As a tutor I struggle to teach all the different viewpoints on an issue, and highlight the weaknesses of all, without just saying THIS is what I believe. These things must change once people think they are in the [c/k]abal or have a 'natural right' to lead. There may of course be a gap between the power people think they have and what they actually have. Where is the thrill in being a guardian?
pea ess: I'm tired of proving I am human...must get thesis draft done.
I've locked myself out of lj, but couldn't resist catching up on a few friends. Dreams are odd, but that is what makes them so marvellous. That and the hope that they might mean something.
Yeah for compost and red wine with family!
Keep living your dream, not the American dream.
joybon
Reply
Reply
The whole don't-check-lj is only working moderately well...I'll be sending you my Machiavelli soon. Thesis is coming along nicely (most people will find it dull, but I am trying to slip in diversions for the reader) and supervisor keeps on asking discomforting questions about what I am going to do next.
I re-read part of your paper just then, I really like this:
A philosopher who, in speech or in text, openly called into question the most fundamental beliefs of his community or “city” would rightly be regarded with suspicion. But, maybe, the more dangerous man would be the one who asked his questions in secret - in the confidence of his fellow conspirators. And, maybe, the most dangerous man of all would be the one who attempted to prevent questions from being asked, for fear of having his valuations contested.Ok so quoting something back to the person who wrote it is a little odd...esp. if I just leave it as 'like'...but there is no space here ( ... )
Reply
Reply
"...maybe, the more dangerous man would be the one who asked his questions in secret - in the confidence of his fellow conspirators. And, maybe, the most dangerous man of all would be the one who attempted to prevent questions from being asked, for fear of having his valuations contested."
So...the "right to rule" is believed, by the Straussian initiate, to be derived from intellectual superiority. The professor becomes the "founder."
I think that the same principle is at work in most grad programs; but, maybe, most practioners are less conscious of it.
It's easier to see propaganda "writ large in the city" (per Plato's Republic) - but it's in other places as well...eh ( ... )
Reply
I think that the same principle is at work in most grad programs; but, maybe, most practioners are less conscious of it.
I think you are right generally, although my supervisor who is the head of philosophy at ANU remarked to me yesterday that most of his grad students tend to disagree with him. At my uni at least, it happens a lot in human rights law (where values come into it) and International Relations. Some have the kind of power described by Anne Norton in Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire.
As a tutor I struggle to teach all the different viewpoints on an issue, and highlight the weaknesses of all, without just saying THIS is what I believe. These things must change once people think they are in the [c/k]abal or have a 'natural right' to lead. There may of course be a gap between the power people think they have and what they actually have. Where is the thrill in being a guardian?
pea ess: I'm tired of proving I am human...must get thesis draft done.
Reply
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