Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!rwt1 From: rwt1@tank.uchicago.edu (Robert Tracinski) Newsgroups: news.groups Subject: Re: SCI.philosophy.objectivism Summary: We don't want a "what's wrong with Objectivism" net... Keywords: Objectivism, Sci.philosophy.objectivism Message-ID: <7434@tank.uchicago.edu> Date: 2 Feb 90 22:55:55 GMT References: <11909@goofy.megatest.UUCP> Organization: University of Chicago Lines: 33 In article <11909@goofy.megatest.UUCP> djones@megatest.UUCP (Dave Jones) writes: >I would like to have talk.philosophy.objectivism, because as an ex- >Objectivist, I would welcome the opportunity to air out the reasons why >I abandoned it. Perhaps I might use the exercise of posting to that >forum to clarify my own views. Perhaps I might even shed some light on >the subject for others. In any case, I think it would be fun to talk it out. This is precisely the sort of thing that is entirely *in*appropriate for any Objectivism newsgroup. Sci.philosophy.objectivism is not being proposed because some people think it might be "fun" to talk about "what's wrong with Objectivism". It is being proposed to provide a place for serious discussion about technical aspects of the philosophy of Objectivism. Those who do not agree with Objectivism are welcome, but the purpose of the group demands that they only post if they are willing to be serious about the issues and consider what the Objectivists have to say. To repeat: *This is not being proposed as a dumping ground for anyone who wants to talk about what he doesn't like about Objectivism.* Mr. Jones is correct on one point. If the newsgroup is put in talk, this sort of thing is more likely to happen. That is one more reason, on top of all of the other reasons, to put the group in sci. The sci title indicates that the group is for serious and in-depth discussion, and people tend to think their postings out more thoroughly on such a group. Whereas the talk title all too often signals that people will feel free to post *whatever* happens to come to mind, whether it is intelligent and thoughtful or not. -- Robert Tracinski | "A consciousness conscious of nothing but itself is | a contradiction in terms: before it could Student of Philosophy | identify itself as consciousness, it had to be University of Chicago | conscious of something."-Ayn Rand,_Atlas_Shrugged_