[PEIRCE-L] Re: Peirce and Democracy (Speak of the Devil)

2016-12-12 Thread Gary Richmond 
Jon A,

Thanks for pointing to the link to this 2003 discussion in which I'd
written:

jon,

given that two paragraphs later, Peirce writes:

>* if the Devil were elected president of the United States,
*

it would prove highly conducive to the spiritual welfare of

the people (because he will not be elected), yet both

Professor Schröder and I prefer to build the algebra of

relatives upon this conception of the conditional proposition.

and given the bizarre situation that the devil HAS been

elected President of the United States, what does this say

about Peirce's or Schroder's logic, especially in its

esthetical and ethical presuppositions?

Gary

In the light of recent political events, the message is indeed quite
amusing in a tragic-comic sort of way; while the question remains, what
does it say about the ethical presuppositions of Peirce's logic?

As for your thought expressed earlier in the thread regarding "the common
root meaning of the words “cybernetics” and “government”: Today we have no
political 'Cybernauts' such as the Founding Fathers of America or Lincoln,
and the system of checks and balances is at least deeply compromised.

As for an informed electorate, fuggedaboutit. You quoted Max Weber "that a
state's accounting systems were intended as representations of realities
that its crew and passengers must observe or perish." But we live in an era
of alt-news and the Big Lie writ large, where data and facts seem not to
matter much at all.


Best,

Gary R


[image: Gary Richmond]

*Gary Richmond*
*Philosophy and Critical Thinking*
*Communication Studies*
*LaGuardia College of the City University of New York*
*C 745*
*718 482-5690 <(718)%20482-5690>*

On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 5:11 PM, Jon Awbrey  wrote:

> Peircers,
>
> I ran across this amusing and ever-timely exchange
> while reviewing and archiving some old discussions:
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20061014000954/http://stderr.org/
> pipermail/inquiry/2003-September/000845.html
>
> Context:
>
> http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/index.php/User:Jon_Awbrey/Ph
> ilosophical_Notes#DIEP._Note_5
> http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/index.php/User:Jon_Awbrey/Ph
> ilosophical_Notes#DIEP._Discussion_Note_1
>
> Regards,
>
> Jon
>
> On 11/23/2016 1:23 AM, Jon Awbrey wrote:
>
>> Gary, List,
>>
>> In my mind the connection between Peirce and Democracy
>> has long revolved about the concept of representation.
>>
>> Representation in its semiotic sense has to do with
>> signs that represent pragmatic objects to agents and
>> communities of interpretation.
>>
>> Representation in its political sense has to do with
>> forms of government that address the “res publica”,
>> the public concern, through elected representatives
>> who represent, hopefully, the good will and the best
>> information of the public at large in their stations
>> at the rudders of the ship of state.  Here the twin
>> senses of representation converge on the common root
>> meaning of the words “cybernetics” and “government”.
>>
>> I know I've written a lot about this over the years
>> but weeks of watching “The Death of a Nation” on TV
>> have me too exhausted to say any more on the subject.
>>
>> I did happen on a recent blog post that seems to fit here:
>>
>> Theory and Therapy of Representations • 1
>> https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2016/03/13/theory-and-therapy
>> -of-representations-%e2%80%a2-1/
>>
>> Statistics were originally the data that a ship of state needed
>> for stationkeeping and staying on course.  The Founders of the
>> United States, like the Cybernauts of the Enlightenment they
>> were, engineered a ship of state with checks and ballasts
>> and error-controlled feedbacks to achieve the bicameral
>> purpose of representing both reality and the will of
>> the people.  And Max Weber understood that a state's
>> accounting systems were intended as representations
>> of realities that its crew and passengers must
>> observe or perish.
>>
>> The question for today is —
>>
>> What are the forces that distort our representations
>> of what's observed, what's expected, and what's intended?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Jon
>>
>>
> --
>
> academia: http://independent.academia.edu/JonAwbrey
> my word press blog: http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/
> facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JonnyCache
>

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[PEIRCE-L] Re: Peirce and Democracy (Speak of the Devil)

2016-12-12 Thread Jon Awbrey 

Peircers,

I ran across this amusing and ever-timely exchange
while reviewing and archiving some old discussions:

http://web.archive.org/web/20061014000954/http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/2003-September/000845.html

Context:

http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/index.php/User:Jon_Awbrey/Philosophical_Notes#DIEP._Note_5
http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/index.php/User:Jon_Awbrey/Philosophical_Notes#DIEP._Discussion_Note_1

Regards,

Jon

On 11/23/2016 1:23 AM, Jon Awbrey wrote:

Gary, List,

In my mind the connection between Peirce and Democracy
has long revolved about the concept of representation.

Representation in its semiotic sense has to do with
signs that represent pragmatic objects to agents and
communities of interpretation.

Representation in its political sense has to do with
forms of government that address the “res publica”,
the public concern, through elected representatives
who represent, hopefully, the good will and the best
information of the public at large in their stations
at the rudders of the ship of state.  Here the twin
senses of representation converge on the common root
meaning of the words “cybernetics” and “government”.

I know I've written a lot about this over the years
but weeks of watching “The Death of a Nation” on TV
have me too exhausted to say any more on the subject.

I did happen on a recent blog post that seems to fit here:

Theory and Therapy of Representations • 1
https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2016/03/13/theory-and-therapy-of-representations-%e2%80%a2-1/

Statistics were originally the data that a ship of state needed
for stationkeeping and staying on course.  The Founders of the
United States, like the Cybernauts of the Enlightenment they
were, engineered a ship of state with checks and ballasts
and error-controlled feedbacks to achieve the bicameral
purpose of representing both reality and the will of
the people.  And Max Weber understood that a state's
accounting systems were intended as representations
of realities that its crew and passengers must
observe or perish.

The question for today is —

What are the forces that distort our representations
of what's observed, what's expected, and what's intended?

Regards,

Jon



--

academia: http://independent.academia.edu/JonAwbrey
my word press blog: http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/
facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JonnyCache

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