Re:... equality (and progress)

Konopak (jkonopak who-is-at ou.edu)
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 12:41:10 -0600

At 11:05 AM 11/24/98 +1100
Phil and Kathie wrote lucidly about the tensions extant among the things
language does and doesn't do with regard to propogating an ethos of justice
amid
otherness. Their discussion raised a point I've not seen raised here,
though it has
been part of like-minded discourses for many years (and as I'm not very
senior
round-abouts, it could have been discussed to death hitherto, and if so,
p'raps you'd
grant a holiday (for some) indulgence?):
What is progress? Is progress?
and how does its ontological - epistemological -axiological status impinge
upon the
ways humans find to act in the world?
What does it mean to believe in progress? To act in such a belief?
Are there things that a commitment to something called progress entails,
sort of sotto voce?
Is "progress" a social value, an artifact of individualism (as ideology),
what?
In what ways is it meaningful to discuss (in language, as we must) progress
in concert with the discourses of otherness? Is any change "progress?" Just
some? Which? Why?

More's the pity that I won't be around to join in any discussion that such
questions might provoke, if any.
Is there a FAQ on progress?

Inasmuch as I am made by my conversations here more fully conscious that
TWIAVBP, nevertheless, lemme wish all for whom it is a relevant sentiment a
jolly holiday on Thursday. I'll be in Santa Fe (New Mexico, USA) with
family, a dirty job that somebody's got to do. Dinner at Rancho de Chimayo
( plug for any who venture thereabouts: Great food; try the Chimayo
Cocktail, aperitif). For the rest of all y'all, have a nice day, too.
cheers, chers
the left rev.