mike,
i'm sorry if I am not following your request but I feel the need to point something out.
looking over the participation in the ilyenkov-ideal thread one finds that there was broad and relatively equitable participation. Eight different xmca-ers posted at the end of August in favor of reading Ilyenkov. By my count 14 different people participated in the discussion directly and all but two posted more than once. Seven people posted 5 or more times, Nate and I posted 11 times, Judy posted 9 times, Diane posted 8 times, Andy Posted 7 times, Alfred Lang posted 6 times, and Helena Worthen posted 5 times.
Also notably, in the Ilyenkov-ideal discussion several people who post rarely participated: Jan Derry, Helena Worthen, Andy Blunden, Charles Nelson, Pete Farrugio and Peter Jones stand out. Your request to hear different, not normally heard voices seems to be precisely what was happening in the Ilyenkov-ideal thread.
I do not find Diane's complaints justified by the facts of the matter. It would seem that discussions on the topics surrounding the issues raised by the ilyenkov piece, and most certainly Leont'ev should we get to that, generate not only an equitable and diverse participation but also a content rich discussion.
Unfortunately, it seems that Peter's recent substantive post -- fell at an inopportune time, coinciding as it did with your request; especially since for it raised issues that certainly might generate further strong discussion; e.g., are Ilyenkov's theories only relevant to those who would maintain a materialist position and for reasons external to the theory itself? do ilyenkov's proposals have any methodological/practical application? how can one consistently draw a distinction between material and ideal from within language? etc.
I am at a loss as to why the productive pursuit of these questions that seem so central to the stated purposes of xmca should be brought into question. I fail to see how those who pursue these discussions interfere in any way with the discussions that others might choose to pursue on threads that they find of interest.
Paul H. Dillon
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