(LOL) My previous question did not produce satisfactory results, so I'll reformulate it.
The skill in which a superior statesman (or stateswoman) manages personal reputation will reflect upon "the state of affairs", as Aristotle intimates. It can be thought of as "spin", or management of appearances, stageplay, and so on. The actor asks, "What is beautiful...and to whom is it beautiful?" There is a moral/ethical component, which Machiavelli revisited in a most radical way. To move fast on the political stage requires careful but quick handling of dangerous props in perilous moments. Skills so acquired increase the power of the actor inasmuch as the ruled accept the ethical/practical beauty of seeing (appearance) them exercised. The shadow on personal liberty is cast. Is there any escape from such an Art? Is this Necessity eternal?
2007-07-15 10:14:20 · 1 answers · asked by Baron VonHiggins 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Just me vonhiggins. Sorry for the intrusion.
But, I must say, you're too kind to the rest of us. It is not just the last question, but one prior you deleted as well which we struggled with. Something about...the Daedalus construction....and how invention can deconstructively be the mother of necessity...causing an inexorable dialectic towards modernity?
Sorry, I was just joking around a bit in those days...
I believe it is Strauss who has claimed to identifying the three waves of modernity, being Machiavelli, Rousseau and Nietzsche. Yet, Cleon is a great example of skillful political manipulations long before we had the revelations of those three. It is remarkable how completely he dominated the political scene and dispensed with his prospective rivals in light of the skepticality regarding his ascension. Why, it's much akin to the political success of one Bill Clinton, if I may say so.
"Give the people what they want!" Cleon's claim to superiority, though, is the lack back then of incessant political polling which Bill relied on for survival. Cleon had an excellent intuition which presaged his rivals.
More personal liberty? Well, I guess (for the masses), beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
Oh, by the way - I don't know anything about videos & on-line gaming. Please don't hold that against me? Especially since I'm no Ariadne.
2007-07-15 19:59:10 · answer #1 · answered by M O R P H E U S 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋