Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Sunday, April 25. 2010

"Resolutely middlebrow," trying to remember Comte

Our Editor recently described himself, and Maggie's Farm, as "resolutely middlebrow." I cannot disagree, but with the caveat that we repeatedy take adventurous forays into the lowbrow.


As confirmation of the above. I have been thinking about Positivism lately and found myself needing to refer to Wiki for a refresher on the late Enlightenment thinker Auguste Comte, known as "The Pope of Positivism," and the inventor of Sociology.  


Comte, interestingly and paradoxically, wanted to use a science of society in order to create a new religion for humanity. His grandiose dream lives on.

Posted by The Barrister in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 06:57 | Comment (1) | Trackback (1)

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Positivism and Irrationality
I mumbled briefly about Positivism last week, alluding to its potential as a fuel for hubris. No philosophy is the "cause" of human evil and destructiveness, but Human Nature is. Pure rationalism (if there is any such thing) is a frightenin
Weblog: Maggie's Farm
Tracked: May 06, 05:01

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"that we repeatedy take forays into the lowbrow."

(Doc's chest swells with pride)

Gosh. Thanks for noticing. :)

Actually, I disagree with BD's statement. What makes Maggie's stand out is that it's a "no-brow" site. Someone will post some lengthy philosophical dissertation on the meaning of life (highbrow), then someone will post an article on lawn maintenance (middlebrow), then someone (and I wouldn't want to mention any names) does a post on some mundane TV series (lowbrow). By the very definition of the word eclectic, this cannot be a 'brow site' of any type.

By the way, I like the tie-ins between some of your recent posts. The one on the academics ruining the school tied in nicely with the Oakland story, and this:

"Comte...wanted to use a science of society"

ties in nicely with the academics story. Excellent work.
#1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2010-04-25 08:43 (Reply)

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