[Buddha-l] Oops--Article is from NY Times

[sjziobro at cs.com]

Thinking for oneself is not restricted to sinning, Richard. For example, thinking to love God and neighbor and express this in deed is thinking for oneself at least as much as thinking of doing something contrary to right reason.  Implied in your concept, at least seemingly, is that any notion of the divine and orientation thereto precludes authentic autonomy, with the result that only sin ensures this autonomy.
 

 I admire your brand of hubris.

Stan


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu>
To: Buddhist discussion forum <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Sat, Aug 28, 2010 1:20 pm
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Oops--Article is from NY Times


On Aug 28, 2010, at 8:00, sjziobro at cs.com wrote:



> Richard,

> 

> 

> Two points here.  The anthropologico-theological sense of harmartia certainly 

connotes a relationship with the divine, whether the divine is conceived in a 

monotheistic or polytheistic manner.  It is not thinking for oneself that is the 

mark of erring, because one can think for oneself at any time.  



I have just finished reading through Isaiah and Jeremiah. One certainly gets the 

impression that those Israelites who thought for themselves that it would be 

acceptable to worship with and in the manner of their neighbors were being 

punished by being invaded by the Babylonians. One definitely gets the impression 

that thinking for oneself has dire consequences when one's thinking does not 

accord with what some people are claiming is God's thinking. 



>  Second point.  We apparently agree that hubris is a reality in the academic 

world.  I haven't escaped it outside the world of academe.  How you've escaped 

it within is a wonder, especially since you've never been known to think 

wrongly.



I think wrongly all the time. Just ask Lusthaus. Or just ask me. I'll happily 

supply a very long list of spectacular errors I have made, and quite a few just 

plain dumb mistakes.  How I have not been known to think is academically. I am 

like a fish out of water on an academic campus. I never wanted to have an 

academic career, but I somehow never managed to acquire any marketable skills. 

The only place that would have me was a philosophy department. That's certainly 

nothing to be proud of. 



> 

Humbly yours,

Richard

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