I personally find the comments by Henry James the elder rather ..I'm
not sure of the word. Not merely naïve but possibly alarming.
I consider that the agenda to develop a 'perfect society' has always
been a basis for totalitarian subjugation - whether it be the
socialism of fascism or communism; whether it be an isolate cult or
an ideology.
Such an agenda, in my view, ignores that we are material, finite
entities, and as such in a mode of Secondness, which is a mode of
'brute interaction' - and diversity rather than homogeneity.
Furthermore, we cannot ignore that there is no such thing as
'perfection' - whatever that means. Instead, I prefer the 'bricolage'
of Karl Popper, his rejection of 'historicism' [vs a theistic
interpretation, ie by recognizing God as the author of the play
performed on the historical stage" [The Open Society and Its Enemies,
p8]. AND the open evolution of both Popper and Peirce, where, with the
reality of both Firstness and Secondness and Thirdness - there is no
such thing as 'perfect'.
Edwina
On Fri 03/07/20 1:39 PM , g...@gnusystems.ca sent:
Gary R, list,
I just came across a piece of the reverse side of Turning Signs
that strikes me as relevant to the “ways in which Peirce's
philosophical trivium might help inform the aesthetics, ethics, and
critical thinking of the world as it emerges from the coronavirus
pandemic” — and relevant in a way that I don’t think has been
discussed in this thread before. It’s only a 3-to-5 minute read:
http://www.gnusystems.ca/TS/snc.htm#x14 [1] .
Gary f.
From: Gary Richmond
Sent: 13-Jun-20 16:04
List,
In a recent op-ed piece titled "The End of College as We Knew It"
(https://tinyurl.com/ybha8mhb [3]), Frank Bruni reflects on something
I've been informally discussing with friends and colleagues now for
years; namely, that "A society without a grounding in ethics,
self-reflection, empathy and beauty is one that has lost its way”
(Brian Rosenberg, recently president of Macalester College). It
seems to me that this has happened in the United States.
It has long seemed to me that America today has largely abandoned
what might be called the normative trivium of aesthetics, ethics, and
logic -- Peirce's three Normative Sciences, not the classical trivium
(for which see Sister Miriam Joseph's 2002 book, The Trivium: The
Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric) that he generalized to
serve as the three branches of Logic as Semeiotic.
This philosophical trivium points to the possible application of
Peirce's three Normative Sciences -- not their theoretical forms, but
rather their ordinary and potentially pragmatic guises as they appear
in life practice, including reflection and action upon what is
beautiful in art and nature, what is ethical in our behavior in the
world, and how we can apply 'critical commonsenseism' in our
quotidian lives. Bruni writes: " We need writers, philosophers,
historians. They’ll be the ones to chart the social, cultural and
political challenges of this pandemic -- and of all the other
dynamics that have pushed the United States so harrowingly close to
the edge. In terms of restoring faith in the American project and
reseeding common ground, they’re beyond essential. "
Bruni's op-ed reflection came in part in response to a recent
article by Rosenberg in The Chronicle of Higher Education ; see "How
Should Colleges Prepare for a Post-Pandemic World"
(https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Should-Colleges-Prepare/248507
[4]). Rosenberg writes: “If one were to invent a crisis uniquely and
diabolically designed to undermine the foundations of traditional
colleges and universities, it might look very much like the current
global pandemic.” In a similar vein, Professor Andrew Belbanco,
president of the Teagle Foundation which gives as its purpose
promoting the liberal arts, writes: “This is not only a public
health crisis and an economic crisis, though Lord knows it’s both
of those. It’s also a values crisis. It raises all kinds of deep
human questions: What are our responsibilities to other people? Does
representative democracy work? How do we get to a place where
something like bipartisanship could emerge again?”
Commenting on the economic divide of the American university, Bruni
notes that "the already pronounced divide between richly endowed,
largely residential schools and more socioeconomically diverse ones
that depend on public funding grows wider as state and local
governments face unprecedented financial distress. A shrinking
minority of students get a boutique college experience. Then
there’s everybody else." Gail Mellow, former president of
LaGuardia College of the City University of New York (where I taught
for decades before my retirement) is quoted as saying, “We always
knew that America was moving more and more toward very different
groups of people," to which Bruni adds, "that movement is only
accelerating."
Confronting all this will undoubtedly be one of the great challenges
that America -- and for that matter, the world -- will have in the
years and decades to come. The question I pose is: Can Peirce's
version of pragmatism (or pragmaticism) -- which he also calls
'critical commonsenseism' -- creatively contribute to these enormous
challenges? And, if so, how? And are there ways in which Peirce's
philosophical trivium might help inform the aesthetics, ethics, and
critical thinking of the world as it emerges from the coronavirus
pandemic? If so, how?
[Note: I have Bcc'd this post to several former members of this
forum, a few members who rarely if ever post but who have stayed in
contact with me offlist, and a few friends and colleagues who have
not been members but who may have an interest in this topic. Those
who are not current members of the forum may send your thoughts on
the topic off-list to me letting me know if I have your permission to
post them.]
Best,
Gary
Links:
------
[1] http://www.gnusystems.ca/TS/snc.htm#x14
[2]
http://webmail.primus.ca/javascript:top.opencompose(\'gary.richm...@gmail.com\',\'\',\'\',\'\')
[3] https://tinyurl.com/ybha8mhb
[4]
https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Should-Colleges-Prepare/248507
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