Graham Gardner referred to
> what Haraway has called the 'God-trick' of disembodied,
> omnipotent vision
and asked me
> Who appointed you
> God that you should have the right to decide for us?
The claim, that radicalism usurps the the position of God, derives from early
liberal thought. Arguing in a 99% Christian context, for a model which we
would now call a 'free market of opinions', John Locke especially attempted to
undermine radicals, with their own Biblical style of argument.
Later liberals could simply say: "there is no absolute truth, only opinion".
Post-modernists restated this liberal ideology, in their rejection of
meta-narratives and prioritising of discourse.
That was not possible in the society of 1689. The norm was that the State (the
monarch) was entitled (and obliged) to enforce true religion. Locke argued not
simply for religious tolerance, but for reducing religious life to a debate
among private clubs. This is still an issue for Muslim critics of liberal
society, who point out (correctly) that it excludes the possibility of an
Islamic society.
Locke wrote:
"If, like the Captain of our salvation, they sincerely desired the good of
souls, they would tread in the steps and follow the perfect example of that
Prince of Peace, who sent out His soldiers to the subduing of nations, and
gathering them into His Church, not armed with the sword, or other instruments
of force, but prepared with the Gospel of peace and with the exemplary
holiness of their conversation. This was His method. Though if infidels were
to be converted by force, if those that are either blind or obstinate were to
be drawn off from their errors by armed soldiers, we know very well that it
was much more easy for Him to do it with armies of heavenly legions than for
any son of the Church, how potent soever, with all his dragoons."
http://catalog.com/jamesd/tolerati.htm
I suggest you also look at the home page of that site, to see whose company
Locke now keeps...
http://catalog.com/jamesd/
I don't know if Donna Haraway or Graham Gardner realise where they get their
ideas from, I don't even know if Donna Haraway said that anyway. But it
exemplifies the pervasiveness of liberal thought.
--
Paul Treanor
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