He is a twit, a classic example of the Hollow Man that T S Eliot wrote about and described in his poetry. A classic example of the one-dimensional-man that Herbert Marcuse wrote about in his book with the same title.

Plus I would also argue that Kevin DeYoung , and the self-righteous right-wing company that he keeps) is himself the perfect example of why/how many young spiritual seekers find conventional religion so obnoxious.

This piece is full of rhetorical devices, and I think my point may have been swallowed up in them.

What you are articulating, in a way much superior to what I have written, is, I think, a pretty standard view that people have towards this issue: philosophy contains a tradition of rarefied opinions and reflections, brought about by a set of tools, which are also subject to reflection and modification. This is to be distinguished from the common, man-about-town view towards her own ‘personal philosophy’, which is her own, perhaps not-as-carefully-scrutinized, set of opinions, reflections, and tools. This might be a rather modern bifurcation, I’m not sure, and I tried to voice a certain amount of hesitation in attributing it as far back as the good ol’ times of the Epicureans and Stoics. And, yes, there are problems and irritations when the two are compared as if equals (Knife-Knife). You do a much better job at outlining this standard stance and argument than I do. However, this wasn’t what I was aiming at illuminating and repudiating.

Mea culpa.

What I was trying to get at, particularly with the reference DFW, was that this platitudinous, common, aggravating use of the term ‘philosophy’ contains more depth to it than the standard view gives credit. And indeed, definition 6B may not be doing justice to this kind of usage. When people begin such phrases as ‘my philosophy means I can’t eat…’ or ‘my philosophy means that…’ they are not only expressing an opinion, probably an ill-founded one (who knows), but they are articulating something very powerful. Not only are they expressing something about themselves, but about the world, and their position in it. And this is what is powerful about the 6B definition of ‘philosophy’: it draws our attention to the way in which philosophy really is involved in working out a place in the world, and how it expresses something about the people involved in it, whether their opinions or discussions are well informed or not. The piece was not so much targeting the fact that 6B use of ‘philosophy’ is irritating, but the fact that it is compared as equal to, what we in the academic profession do. The piece was trying to find a place for 6B within our usage of philosophy, by showing that its usage illuminates something about the enterprise of philosophy as a whole.

So hey! I hope that makes you feel less puzzled. The aim here wasn’t some agony aunt moanin’ and groanin’ followed by a reasoned argument about why this moanin’ and groanin’ is justified, but more of an attempt to find some kind of middle ground, or broader agreement, on what our usage of the term ‘philosophy’ in common situations really picks out. An attempt to bring a few more people into discussion about what philosophy really accomplishes (like yourself! thanks!).

The funny thing about SETI is, is that is an alien race had their own SETI program, they would have missed us completely, since our own radio waves have only traveled 60 light years or so away. Guess that means were not too intelligent is we’vesunk how many millions into SETI…

Danny

You’ve hit the nail on the head as far as I’m concerned. Perhaps too subtly, I was trying to make the point you emphasize – we’re not looking for intelligence, but radio-waves and other such indicators of intelligence. But that’s only because it is very difficult to define intelligence, and may be difficult to recognize in alien species.

I think you’re also being too humble in not bringing attention to your work: if anyone is more interesting in plant intelligence (or cool videos of plants at work!) you should invesitgate Dr. Chamovitz’s site, and in particular, the website of his upcoming book, ‘What a Plant Knows’ (http://www.whataplantknows.com/home).

regards,
rohit Kapur
delhi