Jane O'Grady's very interesting piece on the mind/body problem has stirred quite a controversy. AlDaily picked it up, which always brings a good readership. This brought it to the attention of the American libertarian blogger Julian Sanchez who writes that he couldn't be bothered to write an answer to the actual article, and therefore decided to write a general objection to people who try to make important questions and debates accessible.This brought a Slashdot posting where most of the comments objected to Sanchez's extraordinary show of elitism.
I tried to comment on Sanchez's blog, but he did not post my comment. So here it is, although it should have belonged to the thread on this article:
"Julian, You've obviously done a bit of philosophy yourself, and yet you claim in this piece to talk for those who haven't and - slightly condescendingly - on how hard it must be for them to understand...
The piece is littered with links to source -- and not just to Wikipedia articles, as your lazy link does. If someone's interest is piqued, there is much to guide an investigation better than a Google search.
I would consider this article a publishing success if just one person went into it thinking the naturalistic program is unproblematic and was prompted to click through to the Wittgenstein or Kripke sources to discover the surprising difficulties it contains.
Education comes out of a particular and dynamic relationship to knowledge and you seem to be advocating that only the end-state of balance should be communicated on important and difficult topics. I must say I find your elitism troubling for a libertarian.
Tony"
