[lit-ideas] Re: On Names and Respect

  • From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
  • To: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:26:45 -0230

Quoting "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>:

> That, of course, is not the apology I, and I'm sure others on this List,
> await
> on grounds of Kantian universalizability or Habermasian grounds of
> discursive
> justification. 
> 
> But out of a love of mankind (oops, sorry: "personkind") I'm willing to let
> this
> matter rest, as requested by the offending party. Diotima will be the first
> to
> remind me that I am doing no favours for this individual who clearly still
> has
> something terribly important to learn from this "brouhaha" as she renders
> it.
> 
> In my sleep, Diotima comes to me and laments that Socrates' willingness to
> accept his execution has no contemporary resonance with certain forms of
> socialization, class acculturation and individuation.  Did I say
> "willingness?"
> Pardon me: Diotima made it clear that Socrates *demanded* that he be
> punished
> by
> the State. As if any form of clemency would constitute a deep and
> inexcusable
> affront to his dignity as a citizen of Athens and as a philosopher. Some
> form
> of "public penance," as prescribed by one of our resident Poets, appears to
> be
> in order. I take it that the reasons for the publicity here is clear and
> distinct to all.  
> 
> Wondering if Diotima was male, female, or Hermaphorodities her/himself,
> 
> Walter O. 
> Continuing in Solitude
> 
Erratum: Please change the "is" in the final sentence of my 3rd paragraph of my
posting above to "are." After all, respect for grammar may well be a genuine
virtue, if not a moral or rational obligation. 

Query: Is a concern for grammatical correctness at all connected to either the 4
Greek virtues or the 8 Christian virtues or the Kantian regulative ideal of
rational autonomy? Do pose the question to the next high school student you
encounter.

Another query: Does rationality impose any moral obligations in and of itself?
Zum beispiel: if I err logically, am I also in violation of a moral law? 

Walter O.
MUN

P.S. Witters: Something to the effect that only in certain specific
circumstances is the statement "This is my hand" a knowledge claim. Outside of
those circumstances, the expression possesses no truth value whatsoever. Now
consider the matter of logical eror.










> 
> Quoting Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> 
> > JE:
> > > my apologies to the List for forgetting I'd said
> > 
> > 
> > I'm sorry, but an apology just won't do.  There needs to be some sort of
> > public penance and humiliation here.  A lesson to all.  Were you Catholic,
> > I'd recommend at least 3 Hail Marys and one Glory Be.  But you're of the
> > heresy, therefore sterner stuff is needed to wash away the residue of sin
> > that clings to our screens like insect intestines on windshields.  Had
> Pope
> > Pius VII in 1816 not condemned torture in turning up witches, then I'd
> > recommend the rack to extract a confession of sorcery which we all know is
> > the source your headstrong, wicked ways, that and the fact that you're a
> > woman.  
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > I take it that settles the matter
> > 
> > Judy, Judy, Judy.  Nothing is ever settled in this world, things just get
> > forgotten for awhile.  It always surprises me how parochial we all are. 
> And
> > the parochialism starts at the very start of us.  My not yet 3 year old
> > granddaughter begs me to read her a story and so I do, and two pages into
> it
> > she stops me, angrily denouncing my performance: "You don't read it right!"
> 
> > I ignore the affront to my dignity and continue on and she start shouting
> > "yay yay yay yay" and covering her ears and kicking her legs.  "Listen," I
> > tell her, "I have 62 more years of experience with this story than you do. 
> I
> > have a BA in English from Sump Pump University. I've studied Theatre in
> grad
> > school.  I know how to read a goddamn kid's book!"  But it gets me nowhere.
> 
> > She knows how it's supposed to be -- and so do we all.
> > 
> >  
> > Mike Geary
> > Rector of Repentance
> > Memphis
> >   
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 2:36 PM
> > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: On Names and Respect
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I find I did indeed say that, though not immediately.  In a response to
> your
> > response to my querying your
> > 
> > > And one from me via Onora on why being a Scrooge is not 
> > > >> > universalizable:
> > 
> > I said 
> > 
> > >Because you were the one who used a first name. Of course you could know
> > >her, that is, have met her and also feel able to call her by her first
> > >name. But as I suspected, you were simply following your usual rather
> > >sexist 'call a woman by her first name' habit, as in 'Hannah' >for
> '(Hannah)
> > Arendt'. 
> > 
> > context here:
> > 
> >
>
//www.freelists.org/post/lit-ideas/A-gift-to-the-List-on-this-Christmas-Day,6
> > 
> > It took four searches to find this, The first unearthed your -- to me --
> > 
> > > I would have said that your remark is terribly sexist and,
> > hence, politically
> > > incorrect, but with all the recent scholarship into biological
> > differences
> > > between our two kinds of brains, what does "political
> > incorrectness" mean
> > > anymore?
> > 
> > from 2006, in
> > 
> > 
> > //www.freelists.org/post/lit-ideas/A-serious-inquiry-Hannah,9
> > 
> > my apologies to the List for forgetting I'd said
> > 
> > 
> > >But as I suspected, you were simply following your usual rather >sexist
> > 'call a woman by her first name' habit, as in 'Hannah' >for '(Hannah)
> > Arendt'. 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > I very much wish to have this matter settled asap, not only
> > > for the sake of my
> > > own personal and professional reputation, but for all
> > > others in this list who
> > > risk becoming innocent victims of thoughtless accusations
> > > of vice and baseless
> > > assessments of our character. Some accusations are simply
> > > hurtful; others bear
> > > the potential of being distinctly harmful. 
> > > 
> > >
> > 
> > I take it that settles the matter
> > 
> > Judy Evans, Cardiff, UK
> > 
> > 
> >       
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