2012-02-26

Confessions Of The Commentator

Politically, I don't support any party. Philosophically, I incorporate many ideas. I think socialists and libertarians alike offer thoughts worth exploring. I may lean one way but it won't prevent me from reading about the other.

It's a never-ending journey.

I never read anybody and said, "that's it!" I'm committed to this! I've read Plato, Bentham, Mill, Spinoza, Jefferson and so on. Actually, I'm pretty sure the average person who argues on TV or the internet hasn't read most of the major works by great thinkers. I have but I'm far from being an expert. My goal is to merely be aware of most of them. To get a sense of where we've been and where we may be headed.

All provide insights into the human experience. Picking one over the other is almost a pointless exercise. I just read and digest and then...whatever.

Sure, some philosophers intrigue me more than others but as a whole, my reading and experiences with history demand that no idea or political movement is "right or wrong" or "evil or good."

Each movement exists or existed because at some point in time people reacted to whatever direction the moving zeitgeist target was moving. For example, reformists during the Industrial Revolution aimed to soften the blow of the industrial age by adjusting our standards and civility in society accordingly.

If man thought of socialism or anarchism or conservatism or liberalism to help make sense of things, then it has merit. There's nothing wrong with Marx or Smith. Each were the latest stage in "information collection" for us as a species.

No one owns empirical evidence to prove theirs is the better philosophy.

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