[lit-ideas] Re: On The Perfectibility of Man
- From: John Wager <john.wager1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:34:17 -0600
Lawrence Helm wrote:
. . . .*Comment: * One doesn’t need to be a Neoconservative to believe
that human nature is* NOT* perfectible. There will be no future
Gearyite brotherhood of man because* NO* amount of Social Engineering
will manage to perfect human nature. And to forestall the non-dogmatic
Gearyite from demanding that I prove that, I believe that since there
is no evidence that human nature* CAN* be improved that it is up to
him to prove his case. That is, to prove that human nature can be
altered (I won’t even say “improved”) to such an extent that all the
world can live in peaceful harmony in a single borderless brotherhood.
But, as we have seen Geary scoffs at proof, logic, references,
footnotes, dogma and dogs.
Geary's not a blind optimist; he's the disappointed pessimist whose job
it is to poke holes in all human plans, whether they be to improve
mankind's basic nature or to repel aggression. He's the son of
Dostoyevsky's "Underground Man," the one who thinks that, while it might
indeed be possible to create a "crystal palace" of social engineered
perfection, humans should stick out their tongues at such perfection and
heave a rock or two through those perfect windows just to keep what's
most human alive, our own free whim to not follow the rules we make for
ourselves.
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