August 8, 2004
Trevor,
a note, as I have to catch a plane to Canberra this afternoon.
Your appeal to marxism as a touchstone of social theory leaves me cold. The Australian Marxist knew the country was screwed in an environmental sense. But they were unwilling to evaluate their doctrine in the light of this devastation.
I find the same with Adorno. Here we have a gesture to the domination of nature by instrumental reason, then silence about the ecological consequences of economic growth. It was not seen as important.
The doctrine was more important than the reality. Of course, they said they that were doing social science.
Give me Heidegger's account of technological being and dwelling ethics anyday. At least this philosophy was a form of thinking that engaged with genuine issues that mattered to people.
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