From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!hri.com!ukma!hsdndev!husc-news.harvard.edu!zariski!zeleny Tue Nov 26 12:31:49 EST 1991
Article 1530 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Xref: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca comp.ai.philosophy:1530 sci.philosophy.tech:1075
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!hri.com!ukma!hsdndev!husc-news.harvard.edu!zariski!zeleny
>From: zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Daniel Dennett
Message-ID: <1991Nov23.202015.5824@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 24 Nov 91 01:20:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1991Nov23.202015.5824
References: <OZ.91Nov17172508@ursa.sis.yorku.ca> <1991Nov18.083024.5560@husc3.harvard.edu> <15109@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Dept. of Math, Harvard Univ.
Lines: 42
Nntp-Posting-Host: zariski.harvard.edu

In article <15109@castle.ed.ac.uk> 
cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>In article <1991Nov18.083024.5560@husc3.harvard.edu> 
>zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes:

MZ
>>I believe that the very notion of "Man a Machine" is anti-humanistic both
>>in its intrinsic nature, and in its historical development (the guillotine,
>>labor camps, terrorist state).

CM:
>Interesting idea. Do you trace a connection between de la Mettrie
>(author of L'Homme Machine) and the excesses of the French Revolution?

Not so much La Mettrie himself, but the entire more or less crass
materialistic cabal, including d'Holbach, Helv\'etius, d'Alembert,
Condorcet, et al.  Regardless of their individual humanistic orientation
(Diderot being a prime example), the net result of their project was a
conception of effecting objectively progressive social change through
forcible legislative reformation of the citizens' "virtue", conceived as
possible thanks to the mechanistic notion of "Man a Machine".

Combine this principle with Rousseau's (however anti-materialistic) notion
of a perfect society, and the revolutionary excesses are readily justified.
All subsequent developments can be seen as variations on the same theme.


'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
: 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            :
:                                                                    :
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'


