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To: maro
This seems to be quite arrogant. The Soviets did just this; the enemies of communism were defined to be crazy and therefore put in insane asylums. And "noetic structure of existence" is nonsense.

What he means is something quite simple the Universe was intelligently designed by an intelligent being. It is not happenstance. While you are correct that the Communists called those who disagreed with them crazy and Voegelin is doing the same, the situation is different. The Communists called people crazy because they did not believe their lies. Voegelin is calling opponents crazy according to the proper definition of insanity - a complete dissociation from reality.

78 posted on 12/08/2002 9:43:24 PM PST by gore3000
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To: gore3000
I think you are saying that the Communists said that people were crazy who were not crazy, and that Voegelin says people are crazy who are crazy. My point is a structural one: it is dangerous to go around saying people who disagree with you (even profoundly) are crazy, because that assumption (1) makes the holder too smug in the rightness of his position and (2) creates the potential for very bad conduct by the soi-disant sane against the alleged crazies. Let us reserve medical judgments about craziness to their proper sphere, and keep intellectual disagreements in a different sphere altogether.
80 posted on 12/08/2002 11:09:01 PM PST by maro
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