Science seems to always have the "last word" on everything. And this extension of rationality has become the model by which we run our lives. It is where we look for our morality, and our structuring of society. It has followed a distinct history, which can be traced genealogically--as Foucault has shown.
We almost all abide by a utilitarian moral compass in discerning right/wrong. It is a scientific method of calculating our pleasures and pains and extrapolating the right thing to do. The law is a glaring example. Laws follow a utilitarian format--it asks "who should benefit in this instance?" It sometimes follows a deontological approach, but mostly just in tort law.
Science provided us with this model, and it has given us a distinct perspective on the world. Some argue that it has thwarted our value system, by imposing itself as the answer to all questions--it is the only way to know the world. This seems very sad.
Zygmint Bauman goes so far as to suggest that Bentham/Mill's utilitarianism caused the holocaust by providing the rational model to carry out the mass extermination.
Nietzsche seems to have argued this long before--"God is dead and we have killed him." It was science that did this.
> But performing a search on Matthew Shipp also > brings out a few albums I had
> never heard of: "Blink of an eye" (with Rob
> Brown), "Circular temple"...
> Anyone heard (of) them ?
Blink of an Eye is on No More, from 3 or 4 years ago. Probably available from Cadence, Verge, etc,or I think Steven at AUM Fidelity also sells them. Haven't heard it, so can't comment.
Circular Temple was Shipp's 3rd or 4th album, around 1990, with Wm. Parker and ??? (Whit Dickey maybe). Originally released on Quinton Records, which I think was his own label (but maybe not). I believe it was reissued by 2.13 or some offshoot of it a few years ago. The Quinton one is definitely out of print, probably hard to find (I found one used a few years ago, only one I've seen), not sure about the status of the reissue (don't think I've ever seen it).
Dan
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Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 09:35:32 -0800
From: "Patrice L. Roussel" <proussel@ichips.intel.com>
Subject: Re: science, rationality, religion
On Sat, 10 Mar 2001 14:25:58 -0500 Mike Chamberlain wrote:
>
> > No, but this kind of reminds me of the yuppies who move out to some charming
> > upcountry village or town and immediately start agitating to restrict
> > _further_ growth so as to preserve "their" community. Funny how people tend
> > to exempt themselves whenever they warn that some development has gone too
> > far.
> >
>
> What the f**k are you talking about? Or, more politely, your analogy hardly
> fits.
The analogy is quite good, I think. It illustrates quite well what we call in
Bauman's comment is maximally offensive. It was Nazi scum that
caused the Holocaust, with some non-tivial assistance from, for
example, Polish anti-semites (cf. this week's New Yorker).
How is this offensive? You don't think the Nazi's were operating under a thought system? They were just jerks?
Bauman is saying that the holocaust was the rational conlusion in a society where morality was supported by a scientific model of thought. Look at modern medicine: got cancer? then cut it out. The nazis were "cutting out their cancer," as far as they were concerned. This is how they were taught to deal with their problems--isolate the problem, then be rid of it. I don't see why that's so offensive; it seems more reasonable than saying it was caused by some assholes.
Steve Spangler
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Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 14:55:59 -0500
From: "Steve Smith" <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: Archie Shepp?
Hi Zornies:
I seem to remember our having a disussion not so long ago about Archie
Shepp. Did I imagine this, or did it really happen? And before I go
digging into the archives, does anyone remember roughly when this might have
