tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841866593898210279.post7352141767446722439..comments2023-10-31T03:54:17.210-05:00Comments on Thus Blogged Anderson: Conservatives: Where to now?Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02325205512110155291noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841866593898210279.post-64285387073647877412009-05-01T15:21:00.000-05:002009-05-01T15:21:00.000-05:00For a while I've had a somewhat negative view of p...<I>For a while I've had a somewhat negative view of philosophy, and especially ethics philosophers, because I believe more and more that they don't examine the world to find answers, but try and create justifications for what they already believe.</I>Man, I wish I had Hegel's <I>Philosophy of Right</I> at hand, as he has something to say on that subject. Check back w/ me on that.<br /><br />Politics in general does tend to be about "here's what I want, now how do I get it?" which tends to lead to retroactive rationalizations meant to play to the public sphere. <br /><br />The real problem may be the low educational level of that public sphere, so that appeals to prejudice and absurd arguments suffice for so many.<br /><br />As I like to snark, any Martian visiting our democracy would be nonplussed at our cavalier attitude towars educating the people who will grow up to vote.Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02325205512110155291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841866593898210279.post-72075238721439155132009-04-30T21:31:00.000-05:002009-04-30T21:31:00.000-05:00On target. Good observations. To the both of you.On target. Good observations. To the both of you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841866593898210279.post-6841380254393975762009-04-30T16:48:00.000-05:002009-04-30T16:48:00.000-05:00I can actually live with the economic/moral contra...I can actually live with the economic/moral contradiction. What really gets to me is how often their moral convictions end up twisted, spun, or compromised. Abortion is bad because it kills a baby and harms the mother - but smoking is fine because it's personal freedom! etc etc etc.<br /><br />For a while I've had a somewhat negative view of philosophy, and especially ethics philosophers, because I believe more and more that they don't examine the world to find answers, but try and create justifications for what they already believe. That is, Kant didn't start analyzing morality and eventually come to the conclusion of universalism - he started out believing in universalism, and began crafting arguments to support it. That seems horribly backwards to me.<br /><br />But back on topic - I think you see a lot of the same dynamic at work with the GOP (and possibly all political discussion, although we'll keep it scoped to them for now). Did they look at marriage, decide it was going to fall apart if gays could get married so they had to oppose gay abortion? Or did they go "Ewwww, yicky!" and start hunting for reasons for why gays shouldn't be able to marry?<br /><br />I think this is borne out in the conservative version of "science" too - studies and the like showing that, for instance, women who have abortions are more likely to suffer depression seem to always come from very conservative institutions. IMHO, they had the answer before they started the study, and crafted the study to that purpose. Intelligent Design is another great example - no legitimate scientist would give up looking for answers, but ID is all about arguing that there are no answers. That's probably the biggest preconception of them all.Buhallinnoreply@blogger.com