Someone on the Reason blog (not a Reason staff member, just a pseudonymous poster) writes, “I have an idea! Instead of trying to limit government, how about we p— away 2000 years of political wisdom and instead pursue anarchy! …Plato, Aristotle, Socrates – MORONS. Rothbard and some no name losers from the 19th century are smarter….”
Funny, I don’t see such people making the same argument when it comes to homosexuality, which is condemned not only by all the major religious traditions of the world (not that they’d care about that) but also by a consistent philosophical tradition: the same Plato and Aristotle they cheer for on politics describe homosexual activity as subhuman and beneath human dignity. Did this blogger have any problem with dispensing with 2000 years of teleological sexual morality?
Moreover, the acceptance of the idea of inertial motion meant the overturning of 2000 years of physical theory, dating back to Aristotle. Yes, sometimes it is necessary to overturn fundamental premises.
When theory has trouble explaining what we are seeing, it’s time to revisit the theory. Well, in this age of megastates, some of us have decided to revisit the theory of the inherent goodness of the state. Yes, folks, we are actually trying to learn from our experiences. Shocking.
1:13 pm on January 16, 2004
