COMMENT:An entertaining and amusing polemic against people who appeal to abstract ideas like "Natural Law" to back up their personal prejudices. Wilson points out that such arguments often entail beliefs in Platonic Ideals which we can never know anything about, and which are often cheerfully admitted to as being unknowable. Whilst the style of argument is emotive at times, it really is a good read, and he makes a good point against <em>some</em> Libertarians who seem to make use of abstract ideas of Natural Law in order to justify their politics. A sample passage: ". . . I have developed, over the years, some sense of the difference between real horseshit that you can step in and Ideal Platonic Horseshit that exists, evidently, only in the contemplation of those who worship such abstractions; and I continue to notice that Natural Law bears an uncanny resemblance to ideal Platonic Horseshit." (p.21)
DATE:19990630
KEYWORDS:skepticism
MISC:68p.
PUBLISHER:Loompanics Unlimited
TITLE:Natural Law or Don't Put Your Willy In A Rubber
