From: pmsc13sg@UMASSD.EDU (Stephen Grossman)
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc,sci.philosophy.tech,sci.philosophy.meta
Subject: Re: Philosophy Departments in New England...
Date: 30 Dec 92 16:45:11 GMT
Reply-To: pmsc13sg@UMASSD.EDU
Organization: UMASS DARTMOUTH, NO. DARTMOUTH, MA.

In article <1992Dec30.025801.18894@husc3.harvard.edu>, 
zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny) writes:

>In article <C02211.Cwx@umassd.edu> pmsc13sg@UMASSD.EDU writes:
>
>>In article <1992Dec29.155838.16007@viewlogic.com>, 
>>przemek@tokamak.viewlogic.com (Przemek Skoskiewicz) writes:
>
>PS:
>>>I'm seriously considering graduate study in philosophy, specifically 
cognitive
>>>philosophy.  What are the recommended schools that I should check out?  
Since I
>>>live near Boston, that area interests me the most.  Any recommendations?
>
>
>SG:
>>    There are no philosophy departments in New England. 
>
>Grossman, by your lights, there are no philosophy departments anywhere in
>the world.  Why, those retrogrades are still reading books and journals,
>insted of opening themselves up for new audio vistas of the collected
>Objectivist answering machine messages!

SG	I was trying to be kind.
	>
>Look, why do you bother?  Obviously, no one around here is equipped to
>appreciate your subtle wit.  Why not retire to a more promising venue of
>like-minded "rational egoists", instead of carrying on this interminable
>soliloquy?
>
SG	History and culture are the effect of philosophy. And the depredations 
of our poor, benighted century are the workings out of Kantian nihilism, soon 
to be raised to new heights of brutishness by the postmodern contempt for 
Plato's introduction of system. Our mumble-minded President-elect, Slick 
Willie, was educated at Oxford U, the same joint where Wittgenstein, a leading 
light in contemporary sophistry, earned an international reputation as an 
intellectual fraud. See Ernst Gellner's _Words and Things_ for an excellent 
description of W's manipulations and evasions in the classroom. I try to avoid 
watching MTV (with its typical lack of classic rock) but I cannot avoid the 
minions of government pushing me this way and that as the arbitrary and the 
conventional guide their lack of respect for individual rights. I'm uncertain 
whether or not you recognize the hierarchy of knowledge but rational egoism is 
the context of individual rights. It was, after all, Richard Rorty, another 
leading sophist, who declared that philosophy cannot justify the ending of 
torture and that truth and falsehood were less important than solidarity. 
	As British rock chanteuese Marianne Faithfull so tartly observed, 
"We've been tring to get high without having to pay." And as blues-rocker 
Johnny Winter so wisely observed, "Reality is sneaking up on you. It's going to 
get you wherever you go." 
	Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, philosophers understood 
the importance of producing wisdom for practical guidance. Now, now they go on 
sabbatical to escape MTV-crazed hordes who have, for whatever cause, been 
permitted into universities. As the _Encyclopedia of Philosophy_ says, 
"Philosophy removed or weakened the barriers that should have checked the 
rising tide. Philosophy helped to create an intellectual atmosphere favorable 
to the growth of national socialism." As Schickelgruber confided, "I am freeing 
men from the restraints of an intelligence that has taken charge." 
	If you know of a philosopher with more wisdom than Ayn Rand please 
enlighten me.
================================================================================
	"In that world, you'll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit
you had known in your childhood: that spirit of eagerness, adventure and cer-
tainty which comes from dealing with a rational universe."
                                                              AYN RAND
================================================================================
Stephen Grossman <PMSC13SG@UMASS.EDU>
================================================================================
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc,rec.arts.books,alt.politics.homosexuality