tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post2948599876240937458..comments2024-03-27T07:18:39.229-05:00Comments on In Medias Res: Place, Limits, Liberty (In That Order)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-46971011718196895172010-03-06T18:52:30.707-06:002010-03-06T18:52:30.707-06:00I mean, of course, your original blog post.I mean, of course, your original blog post.Aloysiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13858618410784962169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-53374519422557273202010-03-06T18:51:41.056-06:002010-03-06T18:51:41.056-06:00Gosh RAF why didn't you say so? I read yours s...Gosh RAF why didn't you say so? I read yours several times but I guess I don't have the deep background necessary to parse out your argument.Aloysiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13858618410784962169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-5722306832721916902010-03-06T12:39:10.447-06:002010-03-06T12:39:10.447-06:00That's an interesting thought experiment, Aloy...That's an interesting thought experiment, Aloysius, though you substitute some terms of your own--like, "the greater good"--in place of my own explicit discussion of positive liberty. Still, let's run with it and see where it goes, using the terminology I actually employed:<br /><br />Lucifer: "Father, this plan of allowing all Your children to choose for themselves is a bad one, because of all the likely consequences of war, poverty, etc. These are outcomes no individual would ever actually choose for themselves. So I propose removing the option of choice."<br /><br />Father: "What forms of liberty would be increased by taking away the freedom of choice entirely? What opportunities and arenas of personal and community sovereignty will be, in that way, empowered?"<br /><br />Lucifer: "Um...I'm not sure. Their ability to fully love and follow me?"<br /><br />Father: "But they're not supposed to follow you; they're supposed to love and follow <i>Me</i>. You know, Me, your Father and Creator."<br /><br />Lucifer: "Well, seriously, you're behind the times, and I think new management is in order."<br /><br />Father: "Aside from the fact that such would run contrary to the whole nature and purpose of creation, it seems a good two-thirds of all your fellow brothers and sisters are against you. And yes, in case you're wondering, that is enough to sustain a filibuster."<br /><br />Lucifer: [muttering as he kicks against the pricks on his way out] "I knew I should have waited until after the midterms."Russell Arben Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03366800726360134194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-12549039804774946392010-03-06T09:31:31.469-06:002010-03-06T09:31:31.469-06:00Very nice. Yes intellectuals need to have the libe...Very nice. Yes intellectuals need to have the liberty to do good even if that means removing the liberty to resist it for liberty's sake alone. <br /><br />Since you are a Mormon blogger (or have the form thereof) let me re-imagine the council in heaven. Lucifer, that bright star, comes up and says Father, your plan is inefficient and wasteful. It needs better management. I have this progressive plan that will have a 100% success rate. For the greater good we need to do something about this liberty thing. I know there is another idea floating around about love, liberty, and leadership but the productivity of those ideas is something horrific to contemplate. Too much suffering, too much poverty yada yada yada... Let me manage this and you can retire and take that raving lunatic fringe son with you.Aloysiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13858618410784962169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-39349197008715624632010-03-05T22:07:18.100-06:002010-03-05T22:07:18.100-06:00Dave, it's a fair cop. Scholars do tend to nam...Dave, it's a fair cop. Scholars do tend to name-drop a lot more than necessary, and I probably do it even more than most. But at least in the case of this post, I want to partially defend myself: first, the whole way I explore the topic of this post is through comparing essays by two different writers (Mansfield and Galston); second, bringing Lind in allows me to flush out Galston's own position further. Plus, of course, it gives me stuff to link to. It's kind of like footnoting, in that way.<br /><br />Still, the accusation of CNNism rides heavy. I'll see if I can cut back in the future.Russell Arben Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03366800726360134194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-8686979351117547642010-03-05T20:34:53.630-06:002010-03-05T20:34:53.630-06:00Would this blog post be possible without all the n...Would this blog post be possible without all the name-dropping? Shouldn't a salient argument stand on its own logic, regardless from which pie-hole it came from?<br /><br />I would submit (as an unlearned scholar) that attempting to referee between so many references of this person or that person merely becomes "he said she said", and carries the real risk of devolving into CNNism, but just with bigger words.<br /><br />You're one of my heroes, man-- and maybe all the scholarly referencing is merely part of the territory-- but I thought all the masters constructed their arguments to be logically sufficient and self-contained.djredundanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03458665055655463932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-48483048852760440482010-03-05T15:00:08.719-06:002010-03-05T15:00:08.719-06:00I'm not one of those that agrees the Straussia...I'm not one of those that agrees the Straussians gave us George W. Bush which gave us the Complete Collapse of American Democracy, but I can see where you're coming from. He's not someone I use in making arguments, let's put it that way. His edition of Tocqueville's <i>Democracy in America</i> is the modern standard, though.Russell Arben Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03366800726360134194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-84928719720105391152010-03-05T13:20:14.064-06:002010-03-05T13:20:14.064-06:00Mansfield...one of the very few living scholars of...<i>Mansfield...one of the very few living scholars of political theory whose ideas and arguments have had a real-word impact-</i><br /><br />Mostly in for form of evil, though.Matthttp://www.law.upenn.edu/cf/faculty/mlister/noreply@blogger.com