You're putting words in my mouth that I didn't say. I don't believe that there is a group of people who are only good.
Viktor Frankl, in Man's Search for Meaning, said that the line between good and bad didn't exist between one group of people and another, but down the middle of each person's heart, and that I DO believe.
THAT'S what I was trying to say: that "human nature" is not just the worst, but also the better.
If I read Hayek and then I read Keynes, what am I to believe? Who can I quote with authority? Garbage in, garbage out is what a computer does. You can find a book that will argue for just about any economic, social, political stance imaginable, doesn't make them or you valid. 'Appeal to authority' and all that, right? That being said, reading is a great thing, but like all things it is simply a tool. You still have to be equipped to use the tool. For instance, I think your understanding of Veblen is off in that you do not see his attempt at balancing of the individual and the collective, nor his waffling between theology and post-modernism, but that is my opinion.
I do not agree that all men have half good and half evil (surely that is a gross understatement of his thesis), I believe that there are plenty of people that are effectively evil, socio/psychopaths for instance, and that there are plenty of people that desire and practice as much discipline and sacrifice for their selves, their families, and their communities as they can.
Good and evil do exist and the fact that someone is a sociopath and has a different definition of that does not make it as or more valid than someone's that is working to enhance themselves, their family, and their community.
You're putting words in my mouth that I didn't say. I don't believe that there is a group of people who are only good.
Viktor Frankl, in Man's Search for Meaning, said that the line between good and bad didn't exist between one group of people and another, but down the middle of each person's heart, and that I DO believe.
THAT'S what I was trying to say: that "human nature" is not just the worst, but also the better.
Maybe you should read as many books as I have.
If I read Hayek and then I read Keynes, what am I to believe? Who can I quote with authority? Garbage in, garbage out is what a computer does. You can find a book that will argue for just about any economic, social, political stance imaginable, doesn't make them or you valid. 'Appeal to authority' and all that, right? That being said, reading is a great thing, but like all things it is simply a tool. You still have to be equipped to use the tool. For instance, I think your understanding of Veblen is off in that you do not see his attempt at balancing of the individual and the collective, nor his waffling between theology and post-modernism, but that is my opinion.
I do not agree that all men have half good and half evil (surely that is a gross understatement of his thesis), I believe that there are plenty of people that are effectively evil, socio/psychopaths for instance, and that there are plenty of people that desire and practice as much discipline and sacrifice for their selves, their families, and their communities as they can.
Good and evil do exist and the fact that someone is a sociopath and has a different definition of that does not make it as or more valid than someone's that is working to enhance themselves, their family, and their community.