tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post1952193239972511428..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: Skilled workDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-47885386488428694172013-05-13T02:04:23.889-04:002013-05-13T02:04:23.889-04:00Lawyers are craftspeople. And if they have clients...Lawyers are craftspeople. And if they have clients they don't have time to read legal theory or philosophy.<br /><br />The model of intellectual life as engineering, "the manipulation of abstract concepts" ignores the inevitability of subtext, institutionalizing propositions but not questions. Who's there to remind the car designer about traffic jams? Am I going to ask him about commuter rail? <br /><br />The collaborative model of intellectual life as intellectual design is a f'ing joke. Its why engineers read Asimov and historians and architects read Proust. Proust was a craftman too. Sennett tries in a half assed way to come to terms with subjectivity as a value, but that misses the point: subjectivity is a fact. That's why we have prosecutors and defense attorneys, both paid to play a role. You can prefer to think about judges, and fantasize a wise authority, and call yourslf a philosopher or social "scientist" but fantasies are only that. And Euripides was a smarter man than Plato. D. Ghirlandaiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06283931383770759507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-56614385378690210882013-05-08T01:38:21.954-04:002013-05-08T01:38:21.954-04:00Isn't there also some discussion in Aristotle ...Isn't there also some discussion in Aristotle of "practical wisdom", embodied for him in sailing and building?<br /><br />I get irritated with the common presumption that education consists of mastering the manipulation of abstract concepts - I know machinists who are more educated than many graduates in the difficulties of their art. The common prejudice leads to these people being underpaid for their skills. Be interesting when we wake up to find the builders and makers are too few to sustain the fabric that keeps the thinkers alive.Peter Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289172253358199028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-15828439039921877082013-05-01T11:20:51.996-04:002013-05-01T11:20:51.996-04:00Hegel and Marx perhaps, but don't forget the H...Hegel and Marx perhaps, but don't forget the Heideggerian perspective. Heidegger's explanation of the Dasein's active being-in-the-world, and his discussions of artisanal work perfectly capture your discussion of practical, embodied knowledge.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com