Interesting quote

[Dragonfly]

On recommendation by Daniel and Ellen, I'm reading now Popper's Unended Quest, an intellectual autobiography. I was struck by a passage in which he writes how he as a (very) young man embraced Marxism, but soon became disenchanted:

I was shocked to have to admit to myself that not only had I accepted a complex theory somewhat uncritically, but that I had also actually noticed quite a bit of what was wrong, in the theory as well as in the practice of communism. But I had repressed this - partly out of loyalty to my friends, partly out of loyalty to "the cause", and partly because there is a mechanism of getting oneself more and more deeply involved: once one has sacrified one's intellectual conscience over a minor point one does not wish to give in too easily; one wishes to justify the self-sacrifice by convincing oneself of the fundamental goodness of the cause, which is seen to outweigh any little moral or intellectual sacrifice that may be required. With every such moral or intellectual sacrifice one gets more deeply involved. One becomes ready to back one's moral or intellectual investments in the cause with further investments. It is like being eager to throw good money after bad.

Sounds familiar...

[Ellen Stuttle]

Sounds familiar...

I almost typed out that passage, along with the others I typed out, when I sent you a note recommending the book. I thought you'd be struck by a sense of familiarity. ;-)

Ellen

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