From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!access.usask.ca!alberta!aunro!atha!lsuc!uunet.ca!uunet!ogicse!hsdndev!husc-news.harvard.edu!brauer!zeleny Tue Nov 26 12:30:47 EST 1991
Article 1424 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Xref: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca rec.arts.books:10192 sci.philosophy.tech:1012 comp.ai.philosophy:1424
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!access.usask.ca!alberta!aunro!atha!lsuc!uunet.ca!uunet!ogicse!hsdndev!husc-news.harvard.edu!brauer!zeleny
>From: zeleny@brauer.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.philosophy.tech,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Nihilism
Message-ID: <1991Nov19.200946.5641@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 20 Nov 91 01:09:44 GMT
References: <14920@castle.ed.ac.uk> <1991Nov19.101612.5603@husc3.harvard.edu> <1991Nov19.191818.14735@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Dada
Lines: 60
Nntp-Posting-Host: brauer.harvard.edu

In article <1991Nov19.191818.14735@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> 
ewolfe@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (eric andrew wolfe) writes:

>In article <1991Nov19.101612.5603@husc3.harvard.edu>
>zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes: 

MZ:
>>This, of course, assumes that Rorty still has some credibility in the
>>English-speaking world.  Can a nihilist tell the difference between a
>>charlatan and an ignoramus?  

EAW:
>From Webster's New Collegiate (I didn't feel like dragging out the
>OED):
>nihilism   1. a: a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are
>unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless  b: a doctrine
>that denies any objective ground of truth and esp. of moral truths.

I'll go along with your definitions.

EAW:
>While Rorty is (b), he is not (a); the problem with trotting out
>"nihilist" when discussing thinkers like Rorty is that most people
>seem to retain all the connotations (if not the denotation) of def.
>(a), picturing a mopey, suicidal, black-garbed philosopher.

Is that why Rorty likes to be photographed wearing white and smiling
beatifically?  I would argue that his philosophical nihilism indeed commits
him to mopey nihilism of the former variety; however I'm prepared to limit
this discussion to the consequences of denying any objective ground of
truth, including moral truths.

EAW:
>A nihilist (b) could indeed tell the difference between a charlatan
>and an ignoramus, because these are socially-constructed categories.
>A nihilist (a) probably wouldn't care.

Very well.  Let us conduct an experiment.  Please choose some public
figure, and argue on behalf of a philosophical nihilist that the said
figure is a charlatan or an ignoramus; I propose to demonstrate that in
doing so you would inevitably commit yourself to the use of stolen
concepts.

>Eric Wolfe


'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
: Qu'est-ce qui est bien?  Qu'est-ce qui est laid?         Harvard   :
: Qu'est-ce qui est grand, fort, faible...                 doesn't   :
: Connais pas! Connais pas!                                 think    :
:                                                             so     :
: Mikhail Zeleny                                                     :
: 872 Massachusetts Ave., Apt. 707                                   :
: Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139                                     :
: (617) 661-8151                                                     :
: email zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu or zeleny@HUMA1.BITNET            :
:                                                                    :
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'


