“To the extent to which the pull that moves me really is irresistible, like an invincibly strong addiction, the normal procedures of evaluation, deliberation, choice, decision, etc. that constitute the substance of our political life are not operating. The same is true of overwhelming aversion. The person being tortured who simply wants it to stop, period, is also not a good model for an agent acting politically.” WantPersonsMovingPoliticalChoicesStrongDecisionActingPeriodsNormalModelsAddictionAgentsSubstanceEtcOverwhelmingProceduresIrresistibleAversionEvaluationDeliberationPolitical Life Book:Philosophy and Real Politics Source: Philosophy and Real Politics
“Humans in modern societies are driven by a perhaps desperate hope that they might find some way of mobilizing their theoretical and empirical knowledge and their evaluative systems so as both to locate themselves and their projects in some larger imaginative structure that makes sense to them. ... Furthermore, many modern agents would like it to be the case that the form of orientation which their life has is, if not true, at least compatible with the best available knowledge.” IfsWayHumansMightFormCasesModernProjectsStructureAvailableDrivenAgentsMake SenseDesperateImaginativeTheoreticalOrientationModern SocietyCompatible Author:Raymond Geuss