Keeping it real… or at least significantly similar

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“This analogy is so weak it not only limps, as most analogies do, but it positively staggers around on one leg.” – Dr. Gerard Casey.

That Casey book, Libertarian Anarchy, found me idle and then that line made me laugh. I once heard analogies called the weakest form of argument, and that makes sense. But eh. They are also widely and effectively used. I figure they have some kind of force.

I'll back up. Reason is a part of us, as sentients, right? Some of us are better at it, and some of us are dwarves. (I kid.) (Trolls are the truly deficient ones, but I'm not going there right now.) My point is that while a terran philosopher can analyze inference for pages and pages and pages and… even children just reason, naturally. I remember, way back when, disagreeing with other kids, saying something like: “Nuh uh. That’s like saying…” and other kids did the same. When the challenged stupidity truly compared to the crazy in the absurd example, the analogy was a good point. Interestingly, I guess this defense of analogy has a bit of an analogy aspect to it too.

Dr. Catarina Dutilh Novaes says it well. In Argument and Argumentation (SEP) she writes, “Analogical arguments continue to occupy a central position in philosophical discussions, and a number of the most prominent philosophical arguments of the last decades are analogical arguments, e.g., Jarvis Thomson’s violinist argument purportedly showing the permissibility of abortion (Thomson 1971), and Searle’s Chinese Room argument purportedly showing that computers cannot display real understanding (see entry on the Chinese Room argument).” She goes on to show analogy’s prominence in the philosophical traditions of many terran cultures before summarizing, “while analogical arguments in general perhaps confer a lesser degree of conviction than the other three kinds of arguments discussed, they are widely used both in professional circles and in everyday life.”

So, they are weak arguments or at least they can be. But they're still useful, at least sometimes.

Well, I guess I better get back to work. Today, round one of hunting and gathering disappointed everyone. Now that the weather has cooled, I must show this forest what I am made of. I’d rather keep reading the Casey book, but I’ll probably get into it once I’m out there. Have a great weekend terrans.

– Pen

Touched Down and Feet Up

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Hey Terrans. Another week in paradise I'm sure. I hope the powers that be aren't unofficially threatening you with another lockdown if they don't stay in power.

Here, it's been rather nice actually. There wasn't a great deal of time for reading I'm afraid. I packed the whole group of us up and took the gryphon to visit distant lands. We revisited old favorite spots and discovered new vistas. One night in particular stands out.

I had quietly informed the keeper of a busy sanctuary of my intentions to visit. But when I introduced myself to the guard, my large group was shown to a large table in the town's tavern, one unexpectedly prepared for us as well.

The room was expectedly dark and with a distinctive and familiar feeling that I hadn't enjoyed in a very long time. And with the region's music in the air, I felt just how very long it had been. It was like when you've gone hungry so long that you forget you're hungry, but then when you eat again… the music probably tasted better for the hunger, but it was delicious.

Nourishing… other such words came to mind trying to explain just being there in the merriment. New faces were friendly. Some of which were tasked with anticipating our every convenience, even providing backways so we didn't have to cut through the room's busy, swerving-people obstacle course.

And all that and more. It was a great night. Afterwards, I couldn't help but notice a bit of rejuvenation and revitalization.

Not every night was like that, and even with all the help, the coordination of my large group still amounts to quite a feat, so I beg your indulgence on this letter's not advancing the matters mentioned in previous ones.

As wonderful as that night was, it is nice to be back in a regular quiet tavern, penning a letter to terran friends and putting off work until later.

-Pen

Lost in book. Please send coffee.

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Dear Terrans,

How’s it going? As for me, I’m alive… and under paid. I helped the local wise guy (I shouldn’t say that. He’s a wise and good man.) I helped the athenaeum keeper with his research and the pay was very disappointing. Now, it wasn’t contrary to any agreement or anything like that. I guess the customary extra “appreciation” left much to be desired. The slight bothers more than the amount, but even that not much. It was only extra work, and the real coin is in critter-hunting in the wood. I hope to get to that soon, but I decided to stop and write since I was already in the inn, and they have my favorite table for it.

To the news. The dragon talk has died down a bit. As far as I can tell, anyway. I don’t know what those tale-bearing misanthropes do in secret. Heh. Misanthrope. It sounds like miss-anthrope. Reminds me of that Depp Heard trial. He’s coming off as taken in by what he intakes but also, childlike and peaceful. She comes off like a rotten wench- like she's just too old for her parents to correct a spoiled brat syndrome. Alas.

Anyway, in milder news, I have picked up a new book. I just started it, and now I’m spoiling the ending by jumping ahead to the conclusion. So far, I enjoy this author’s philoso-voice, clear with a pleasant level of precision rather than endless qualifications. Also, the book is a Terran defense of libertarian anarchy by one Dr. Gerard Casey. He seems like quite the gentleman-scholar. Maybe the refinement will be catching. Either way, I’m looking forward to the book. And yet, this means I’m starting another one. I may want to finish the previous book first. We’ll see how it works out.

Well, I guess I’ll pay the keeper here and then go whittle down the woodland's monster quotient. I’m saving for a new piece of equipment that promises to make building much easier. Maybe I’ll fill you in on that next time.

Pen

Steer ye clear of Slytherin

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Heys terrans. (Strange salutation I'm sure, but hey, it's better than “Greetings earthscum”.) I hope this finds you well. Current events may look more like a script from a “reality” show, but here's hoping for good times anyway.

I've been digging through the ol' interwebs looking for debates. I'm trying to collect ones with lots of significant “clash”. Ones where the opponents engage each others' positions with the best of their own, hitting the big points and doing a thorough job besides. (I'm interested in ones on free-will, libertarianism, conservativism, idealism, and other subjects as well, so recommendations welcome.) In my huntings, I am reminded of a Soho forum debate on Capitalism vs Socialism, where at ten minutes into the socialist's opening, his case was entirely based on a sad anecdote, on the woes of a budding socialist in days of America-past. It would be ok as an intro, but it lasts ten minutes! (How long are these opening statements?!) I made it through the whole thing, but it wasn't easy.

I don't like that it was an emotional ploy, but it kind of begs the debate's question, too. Say he was defending some other view (call it evilism), a view that ranked high among the most dangerous yet obscure views on the ideo-market. Well, then it wouldn't seem quite as sad if, per the story, a college didn't have a whole course on evilism. It wouldn't seem bad at all if professors had to be hush hush in advocating evilism. As a story of a closeted racist in respectable society is sad because of the racism rather thatn the closet, so it would be with the closeted evilist. So, if socialism's grave severity is comparable to evilism, then his experience as a closeted one is to be comparably pitied. The maneuver's effectiveness will depend on what the audience makes of the crazy evil he was in the closet for.

It's one thing to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and another to teach the dark arts themselves, and determining which one Socialism compares to is kind of what he debate is about. With the unsubstantial sympathy ploy, the coaxing his audience, that talk sounds like Slytherin to me.

Well, I better get. There's plenty to do over here. Thanks for your kind attention.

-Pen

Conserving the good…

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Hey terrans. Greetings from Oz. Only not though. It's nothing like Oz here, and I'm pretty sure the dwarves wouldn't like being compared to munchkins. Also, there's no emerald city. One thing we do have is manure. Everything poops. And you think you know that, but no one knows it as well as those who've put in hours at the menagerie. It's a poop factory, I tell you. Glad that's not my job.

My job gives me time for the dumpster fire known as twitter. I saw that your Musk figure bought most of it up, and things already seem to be improving. For example, someone (@takethewhitepil) even tweeted, “After becoming an anarchist I've somehow become more conservative.” See?

Well, I kid. One tweet is not necessarily part of a trend. (But maybe?) The tweet did remind me of an article I read long ago (Why True Conservatism Means Anarchy by Alexander William Salter). The article ended with this line: “[T]he state is constitutionally hostile to conservatism. For the sake of preserving ordered liberty and protecting inherited faith and folkways, conservatives should reject the state’s legitimacy. Failure to do so is fighting a war on the enemy’s terms.” Just where is this Salter guy coming from? Glad you asked.

First, Salter sees conservativeness as more of a preservation orientation than a creed. This frees him up to sort inherited wheat from chaff. Secondly, he makes two points regarding the modern state: (1) that it is relatively new and (2) that conservatives, in defending the state, concede something to the left of yore- something that they should instead be drawing from. He explains: “The polylegal system of the High Middle Ages, in which the authority of kings, local nobility, trade guilds, free cities, and the Roman Catholic Church competed and often checked the abuses of each other, is an important example and one that should be of obvious interest to conservatives.”

So, to Salter, institutions of governance need not include a monopoly of so-called legitimate force. He argues convincingly that such a monopoly makes the state particularly useful to anti-conservatives. If a small group of people different from the whole found persuasive influence too difficult, they might prefer the state for forcing their influence. And, well, there's more in the article: Why True Conservatism Means Anarchy over at theamericanconservative.com.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired. It's been a long day. I visited another realm, and the local bard (much better than the one here) wasn't feeling too well. He's on the mend though. After his situation improves, maybe an apprenticeship between the two can be worked out. Hmm.

Well, thanks for reading. Take care, terrans.

-Pen