https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/25/the-hollow-men-of-silicon-valley/
"I am, unabashedly, a Humean emotivist. Like David Hume, I hold that
emotions—not abstract reason—form the foundation of our ethics. Cold logic
alone doesn’t guide our moral compass; it is shaped by the deep wellspring of
human feeling. This isn’t a rejection of reason, but a recognition of its
limits and its partnership with emotion in shaping human understanding and
motivation.
In this light, art and music are not mere diversions or entertainments. They
are profound expressions of human experience, written and interpreted in the
language of emotion. They speak to truths that logic alone cannot fully capture
or convey. And it is precisely this emotional resonance that makes art such a
powerful force in shaping human consciousness and, by extension, political
reality.
This understanding of the centrality of emotion in human experience is why I
don’t apologize for my polemical style. My impassioned writing isn’t a lapse in
philosophical rigor—it’s a deliberate and principled approach to engaging with
the most pressing issues of our time. When I write with fury about the erosion
of democratic norms, when I express despair at the moral cowardice of those who
should know better, when I voice hope for resistance and renewal, I’m not just
venting. I’m engaging in a form of philosophical praxis that recognizes the
full spectrum of human cognition and motivation.
The reactionaries and authoritarians understand this power of emotion all too
well. Their aesthetic theories, their carefully crafted narratives, their
manipulation of symbols and spectacles—all of these speak to a deep, if often
cynical, understanding of how emotions shape human behavior and political
allegiance. They tap into fear, anger, pride, and resentment with a skill that
many defenders of democracy seem to have forgotten or deliberately abandoned.
This is perhaps one of the most crucial battlegrounds in the fight for the
future of democracy. While many liberals and progressives focus on rational
argument and policy detail—worthy endeavors, to be sure—they often fail to
engage with the emotional underpinnings of political belief and action. They
forget, or choose to ignore, that humans are not merely thinking beings, but
feeling ones as well.
What we don’t feel, we don’t fight for.
This simple truth, often overlooked in political discourse and philosophical
debate, lies at the heart of human motivation and action. It’s not enough to
know that democracy is under threat; we must feel the weight of that threat in
our bones. It’s insufficient to understand the principles of justice
abstractly; we must be moved by injustice to act."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
