Objectivist Ethics in Business

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• The Hidden Philosophy Behind Physical Subjectivism

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  Cassandra Troy    Group moderator

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  The Hidden Philosophy Behind Physical Subjectivism

  One of my correspondent thinks that philosophers merely explain things after the event. But what comes first, I ask? The event, or the idea? Do ideas not have consequences?
  
  What comes first? B. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, or subjectivism? The Sokal hoax, or the notion that the senses are an unreliable source of knowledge because they can be tricked? Immanuel Kant or Massimo Vignelli's CuboSeat? The exception taken for rule, or malignant Narcissistic egocentrism.
  
  In all the above it's the idea that has consequences in the physical world.
  
  Surrealists and abstract artists are plain: they go straight to the subjective universe. But are we aware of the hidden political message behind works like Vignelli's, or for example Escher's?
  
  The optic husslers come before the surrealists, telling us from an objective place that what we see is an illusion. They produce artistic renditions of the notion that our senses cannot be trusted. These eye-trick artists are the foot soldiers in the battle against reality. They 'prove' to us through their art that our senses are so dumb, they even fall for cheap parlor tricks like theirs.
  
  And if that is the case, then objective knowledge is for ever beyond our grasp. What we take for real are actually subjective, personal versions of reality. Or per Kant - we create our personal universes in our heads, isolated forever from the illusion we take for reality.
  
  Nor is it possible to have an opinion on one another's universes. Because by whose standards would we make such an objective judgment? This is impossible. There are no bad universes, or ugly universes, just different universes which perhaps we don't understand, coming from another universe as we do.
  
  So here we can see that ideas have consequences. Kant's and Hegel's subjectivism is the cause of B. Barack Obama. The battle against reality goes on ...
  
  • 09 May 2008, 10:43 pm
  Cassandra Troy wrote: > One of my correspondent thinks that philosophers merely explain > things after the event. But what comes first, I ask? The event, or > the idea? Do ideas not have consequences? > > What comes first? B. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, or > subjectivism? The Sokal hoax, or the notion that the senses are an > unreliable source of knowledge because they can be tricked? Immanuel > Kant or Massimo Vignelli's CuboSeat? The exception taken for rule, or > malignant Narcissistic egocentrism. > > In all the above it's the idea that has consequences in the physical > world. > > Surrealists and abstract artists are plain: they go straight to the > subjective universe. But are we aware of the hidden political message > behind works like Vignelli's, or for example Escher's? > > The optic husslers come before the surrealists, telling us from an > objective place that what we see is an illusion. They produce > artistic renditions of the notion that our senses cannot be trusted. > These eye-trick artists are the foot soldiers in the battle against > reality. They 'prove' to us through their art that our senses are so > dumb, they even fall for cheap parlor tricks like theirs. > > And if that is the case, then objective knowledge is for ever beyond > our grasp. What we take for real are actually subjective, personal > versions of reality. Or per Kant - we create our personal universes > in our heads, isolated forever from the illusion we take for reality. > > Nor is it possible to have an opinion on one another's universes. > Because by whose standards would we make such an objective judgment? > This is impossible. There are no bad universes, or ugly universes, > just different universes which perhaps we don't understand, coming > from another universe as we do. > > So here we can see that ideas have consequences. Kant's and Hegel's > subjectivism is the cause of B. Barack Obama. The battle against > reality goes on ...