Musical interlude, einher mit die Philosophie

Written By: - Date published: 1:32 pm, October 11th, 2008 - 10 comments
Categories: Deep stuff - Tags:

A utopia, an ideal socio-politico-legal system that we can work towards if never reach, should lie at the heart of ones political philosophy. Ones support for ideas and policies should be based on whether they further progress towards ones utopia.

One of the earliest expoundings of a utopia was in Plato’s The Republic. Plato recounts Socrates examining the requirements and conditions for an ideal state in which the Men of Gold, also called Philosopher-Kings or Guards, rule with their perfect logic and lack of self-interest (funny how philosophers come up with systems where philosophers rule), Men of Silver, or Auxiliaries, conditioned (through eugenics and collectivism) to be totally loyal to the State defend the system, and the Men of Bronze (that’s the rest of us) do all the stuff and are well-behaved.

This system was meant to prevent the bad outcomes the Greek philosophers saw in the monarchies, oligarchies, and democracies of Ancient Greece, effectively creating a benevolent dictatorship of really great chaps who would do the best for all. Of course, 2,500 years of experience since then has shown that even the best dictatorships do not stay benevolent for long. We can all see that this ideal state is a blueprint for what would quickly become a Police State. As Socrates is asked in The Republic, ‘who will guard the Guards themselves?’

Who indeed. The philosophers spend the bulk of the work debating whether the Guards can guard themselves (which is pretty much what modern democracies attempt do through the seperation of powers), whether there can be naturally perfectly just, incorruptible people to be Guards, whether they have incorruptibility conditioned into them (by being told ‘noble lies’), or whether this is all a silly idea.

Anyway, this was all just an excuse to post Minuit: The Guards themselves. It’s the coolest song with a reference to political philosophy, ever. At least, as far as I’m aware. Have a listen, why don’t ya?

10 comments on “Musical interlude, einher mit die Philosophie ”

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  1. Felix 1
    11 October 2008 at 2:47 pm

    Nice. I’ve never been a big fan of Minuit but that’s a cool track.

    Any reason it’s a .wma though?

  3. Steve Pierson 3
    11 October 2008 at 3:51 pm

    is .wma a problem?mI’m pretty illiterate in technical computer stuff.

    it’s funny, we talked ages ago about a slightly smaller font, and now we have it looks weird, guess it just takes getting used to

  4. Felix 4
    11 October 2008 at 3:57 pm

    It’s not a problem for me, it just wouldn’t be most people’s first choice.

    But there’s hours of ultimately pointless discussion down that path.

  5. bill brown 5
    11 October 2008 at 4:21 pm

    Small font but large gap between lines?

    (And a crappy bold)

  6. randal 6
    11 October 2008 at 4:28 pm

    wait a minuet…never heard of ’em. mustbe a krusty!
    timothy leary’s dead..oh no he’s outside..looking in.

  7. RedLogix 7
    11 October 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Completely OTT.

    Had a quick snoop at Farrar’s sewer for the first time in ages. Farrar pops in a post about some ‘wonderful high pressure shower’ he’s just had in Rotorua, hoping of course to provoke his amen chorus into another couple or rousing rounds of ‘Nanny State’ and ‘NZ Socialist Suckhole’.

    Sadly not one of them appears to understand the difference between flow and pressure. Nor do any of them appreciate that the perceived performance of a shower head is highly dependent on it’s design.

    The DBH discussion document is here. The actual proposal is a little more complex than the KB crowd are capable of comprehending of course, but the basic thrust is that if you are using solar or heat pump source hot water, the standard allows for flow rates up to 7.5 or 9 l/min.

    It is only on larger houses (>150m2 and therefore presumably not budget homes) that use electricity sourced ONLY hot water that the standard proposes a 6L/min standard.

    I’ve been using a heat pump/180L mains pressure system with a measured flow of 8L/min through a Methven SatinJet head for several years now. It is the best shower I’ve ever had. Nothing at all like the miserable dribble being claimed.

    And of course the fact that other countries like the US and UK have had similar standards for a while now, doesn’t deter these guys from mindlessly leaping on every passing bandwagon…no matter what intellectual cul-de-sac it takes them up.

  8. Steve Pierson 8
    11 October 2008 at 5:16 pm

    yeah, the gap between lines is quite big now.. maybe it’ll look normal after a while

  9. Killinginginthenameof 9
    11 October 2008 at 6:02 pm

    For those having to squint, if you hold control and scroll up it will increase the font size for you.

    And redlogix, yes your exactly right, I doubt a single one of them even knows what the flow rate of thier current shower is. But it’s not like they would let the facts get in the way of political point scoring. Especially for something as vague and straw clutchingly desperate as the “nanny state”, an argument that they can only win when its on a bumper sticker or can shout louder than every one else.

  10. randal 10
    11 October 2008 at 6:18 pm

    have to laugh about high pressure showers. usually used to hose the faeces of killed beasts hanging from a chain. thats the workingmans p.o.v. of course so I hope some tie and suited gnat gets offended about the real world.