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I'm really curious why are you so wound up against him to mount such a strong an "ad hominem" attack against him? Yeah, his work had mostly only aesthetic valu

by nnq 10y ago

I'm really curious why are you so wound up against him to mount such a strong an "ad hominem" attack against him? Yeah, his work had mostly only aesthetic value imho (aka "worthless", I agree), bu one doesn't judges philosophers based on their life and character, one judges their ideas. And even so, I'd have no problems of with a philosopher who was lazy and sympathized with horrible people. Heck, if Hitler wrote good philosophy himself I'd praise his philosophy despite the person (note: he did not, I agree, Mein Khampf is 100% crap).

theoh 10y ago
In the case of an artist, I'm sure you'd consider their life experience and artistic production to be deeply inter-related. It's the same with philosophy and literature. Only mathematical logic and similar formal philosophy is immune from an analysis that takes the author into account... The "New Criticism" of the mid-20th century which rules out considerations of biography is just one possible stance. The censorious tone of dang concerning a personal reaction to Cioran feels like part of a HN ethos of denying the value of subjectivity. A deadly caricature of life as lived by engineers.