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Conference turris::womannotes-v2

Title:ARCHIVE-- Topics of Interest to Women, Volume 2 --ARCHIVE
Notice:V2 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open.
Moderator:REGENT::BROOMHEAD
Created:Thu Jan 30 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 30 1995
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1105
Total number of notes:36379

994.0. "Discuss. Originality and neatness count." by REGENT::BROOMHEAD (Don't panic -- yet.) Fri Feb 23 1990 12:44

    "I abhor the methodology which involves, among other things, bringing
    broad ideological principles to bear on specific personal or
    theoretical issues, ..."  (I have left off the subordinate clause
    because I am uninterested in that subset of the concept.)
    
    Well, what's the use of having a personal philosophy, or an
    `ideology', if you don't apply it to issues?
    
    						Ann B.
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994.1MOSAIC::R_BROWNWe're from Brone III... Fri Feb 23 1990 12:507

Ann:

   Please elaborate.

                          -Robert Brown III
994.2MOIRA::FAIMANlight upon the figured leafFri Feb 23 1990 13:0113
>    Well, what's the use of having a personal philosophy, or an
>    `ideology', if you don't apply it to issues?

Agreed.  However, one of the idiomatic connotations of "ideology" is that
it is a collection of beliefs which are so deeply held as to resist any
experiential contradiction.  ("Don't bother me with facts ...".)  

A personal philosophy which not only affects ones actions, but is updated
in accordance with their consequences and with one's other experiences, is
a valuable thing to have.  A rigid ideology which takes precedence over
one's experience of the real world would seem rather crippling.

	-Neil
994.3WAHOO::LEVESQUEI've fallen and I can't get up!Fri Feb 23 1990 13:1114
    re: .0
    
     I posit that a difference exists between applying one's personal
    philosophy to specific issues and utilizing reductionism to arrive at
    conclusions on certain issues based on broad ideological principles
    which may not apply in the manner they are used. Such uses of
    reductionism prohibit the independent assessment of specific issues on
    their own merit due to a rigid formula which defines the correct
    conclusion of any possible analysis.
    
     I'd also say I am occasionally guilty of being reductionistic. (new
    word) :-)
    
     The Doctah
994.4No true black or white. Gray is TruthUSEM::DONOVANFri Feb 23 1990 13:249
    re:.0
    
    Life is not simple. Answers are not simple. 
    	Who was it that said,
    	"Just when I thought I knew the answers someone changed the
    question."?
    
    Kate
    
994.5I've never been very good at testsLEZAH::BOBBITTthere's heat beneath your winterFri Feb 23 1990 14:0219
>   , bringing
>    broad ideological principles to bear on specific personal or
>    theoretical issues, ..." 
    
    I think the key word above is "broad".  If one brings BROAD ideological
    principles, and tries to apply them to specific personal or theoretical
    issues, then it seems one is painting a small thing with a very large
    brush.  Also, when one has broad ideological principles (like FREEDOM
    OF SPEECH or FEMINISM or REPUBLICANISM or RELIGION), then they
    occasionally become so ensconced in how one things that one ceases to
    entertain new options, or concepts that do not interlock with one's
    ideology.  If one has less-broad or not-quite-so-concrete ideological
    principles (flexible towards new input, but not breakable), this
    enables better application to specific personal or theoreticl issues,
    particularly these issues are those of other people.  Nobody wants to
    talk to a brick wall.
    
    -Jody
    
994.6SA1794::CHARBONNDMail SPWACY::CHARBONNDTue Feb 27 1990 05:587
    re .0 The alternative is action divorced from one's
    philosophy, or any philosophy, based solely on range-of-
    the-moment concerns. See US history, Reagan Presidency, 
    for results.
    
    This subject would be more appropriate in the Philosophy
    conference.