Posting this again, apparently the server doesn't like to hear any criticisms of the liberal thinkers, lol. --- On Fri, 12/3/10, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [lit-ideas] Re: Giving Thanksgiving To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Friday, December 3, 2010, 7:55 AM Well, Jefferson certainly had a prolonged period of flirting with the French Revolution, although he appears to have lost some of the enthusiasm later. Admittedly I haven't got anything specific on Locke and Hume, but the Postmodernists have linked pretty much all of the Enlightenment thought to totalitarianism. (Not necessarily rightly, but that wasn't the point.) O.K. --- On Fri, 12/3/10, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Giving Thanksgiving To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Friday, December 3, 2010, 5:21 AM I would add the authors of The Federalist Papers (Alexander Hamilton and James Madison), together with Locke and Hume, De Tocqueville and Montesquieu, and, more recently Dewey, Rawls, and Rorty. Quite interesting, isn't it, to exclude, if only by neglect, the major theorists of liberal democracy from the category "major thinkers." John On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Veronica Caley <molleo1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Omar:Is there a major thinker that wasn't linked to totalitarianism in some way or other ? Thomas Jefferson. Even though he held slaves. He knew it was wrong. But slave holding in those days wasn't in and of itself totalitarian. A major thread through the economic system. Veronica Caley Milford, MI ----- Original Message ----- From: Omar Kusturica To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 9:58 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Giving Thanksgiving --- On Thu, 12/2/10, Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Glad of that second "Rousseau", rather than "he", without which the second clause has another possible meaning. If I were asked, I'd have to check - and only this week unfortunately the local library demanded back its copy of 'The Open Society'. All I can say is, having returned volume 1 on 'Plato', it seems totalitarianism has a lot of fathers. Is there a major thinker that wasn't linked to totalitarianism in some way or other ? O.K. -- John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Tel. +81-45-314-9324 jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.wordworks.jp/