'Knowledge and Interest'

Philosophy 410 - Political Philosophy, some Washington dot.edu course syllabus

Look at what they have to read... Wonder what this course is... 'The idiots guide to a hidden fascist dictatorship in the 21st century', 'Theoretical aspects of democratic lying' or 'How to reach unjustifiable political ends'.

Start with Bakunin, the 'root of all evil' to any neo-con (seemingly without historical reference to Marx/socialism/anarchism, but then again, handy to refute Marxism and socialism as dictatorial/authoritarian, eh?) Then bring on the 'should-have-been-a-dictator' Nozick quashing, and other useful insights of the 'Justification of punishment' sort? A little one-sided, in transatlantic terms even, no?


It's just like ("...Lenin said..."):

From Harper's Index, sometime last year:

Number of books to which a national reading program has assigned points that students can accumulate for rewards : 50,000

Points assigned to Tom Clancy's Executive Orders and Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, respectively : 78, 40

(also amusing since Bush seems to proudly keep referring to some sort of 'reading program', when bad news brakes...)

Maybe, the fact that you can actually get a degree in economics without examination of its historical/philosophical heritage is a good illustration - anti-historical, anti-intellectual, uncritically instrumental ('don't think, just shift money!'). It's like learning how to administer drugs without knowing what effect they have ('differential diagnosis' in medicine more directly linked to generic drug name of relevant pharma producer than actual illness of patient - it seems the modern GP doesn't understand the pathology as much as he knows how much of what brand to give you - still the village shaman...). Like learning how to drive without knowing how a car works (or just generally driving SUV's around). "The automatic gear box" or "(American) pragmatism", they both thrive on the dualistic fallacy (yes, have been consuming thc...).

Is today's university graduate gone to white-collar office operator/money shifter, tomorrow's blue-collar worker (which was yesterday's miner)? Postmodern material fetishism lets you believe that the difference in shirt colour is somehow significant, whilst actually, it's the collar itself that invisibly chains the individual to his controlled imagination... significance lies in varying material costs, between a gucci suit and a carhartt overall. Suit you!