Where did these objectivists come from? Has Beagles gone back to his (Ayn as opposed to Paul) roots? I did a word search and the term hasn't been used in the last ten posts. I believe the fact remains that good for Beagles is whatever he likes and bad is what he doesn't like. And that is all the definition of good and bad that he is inclined to give, and that is not going to fit in the crucible so I give up.
We weren't talking about whether the Indians were good or bad, the point was whether they were better off today than they were before Columbus. The whole thing comes from an earlier discussion of whether we are better off now. It's a hopeless thing to argue because we is not defined, better off is not defined, and now does not take into consideration from what other date. We could argue does the average white American have more stuff now than he did 1946. We could argue is the average Indian happier now than he was in 1491. But the more general formulation is meaningless.
Do I believe in good and bad? Let's begin by asking if I believe in beauty. When I am painting I an always aiming for beauty. Should this line be red or blue? I pause with my brush in mid air, and send a message to somewhere deep in my mind. I think it is the subconscious because I don't really know how the decision is made but after a much shorter delay than refs and umps staring into a screen, the answer comes back: blue.
Alrighty then. After I put in the blue line I step back. I look at the overall painting. Well this area is too busy, this one too empty, overall it is too static and boring, or maybe it is too chaotic and needs more stability. Here I am using some form of logic, doing some kind of math. But how to remedy the busyness or the emptiness, the static or the chaotic? I kind of run through a rolodex of options in my mind, kind of like the wheel of fortune and wait for the little prong from my subconscious to stop it at a certain sector and then I proceed with that.
A little more detail than is necessary, but you know how we arty types are. So what is beauty then, just some soft spot somewhere inside my head? Pretty much. People talk about beauty a lot. If I got into a conversation about it I suppose I would have something to say.
Is there beauty? I am asking the dawgs, yes or no? Is there good and bad? Does good and bad exist in the same way that beauty exists?
Was there beauty in the solar system before the Earth thawed down into rock? Uncle Ken says no. Before mammals? No. Before civilization of the rudest sort? No. Once we started building things? Uncle Ken thinks yes. There are certain requirements for a spear, those being satisfied one is as good as another, but a guy takes pride in his work, and he'd rather have a beautiful spear than an ugly one.
Was there good and bad in the solar system before the Earth cooled enough for bacteria. Uncle Ken says no. Before mammals? Maybe, sort of, but let's start it at mammals, because of that live birth thing. And I think it got stronger with people who spend so much time, sacrifice so much more, to raise their young. And then we got language and began to talk about it, and to think about it, made the whole thing more abstract, more, I daresay, logical.
Ok that's all for today. Maybe we all have better things to do over the weekend, but perhaps we could cogitate on good and bad and how we decide whether an act can be labelled either.
No comments:
Post a Comment