That’s true and important, but stereotypical worldly intelligent people rarely “grave new values on new tables”, and so might be much less intelligent than your Rousseaus and Hammurabis in the sense that they affect the cosmos less overall.
However, non-worldly intelligent people like Rousseau and Marx frequently give the new values that make people like Robespierre and Stalin possible.
In the public mind Rousseau and Marx and their intellectual progeny are generally seen as cosmically connected/intelligent/progressive, right? Maybe overzealous, but their hearts were in the right place. If so that would support the intelligence=goodness claim. If the Enlightenment is good by the lights of the public, then the uFAI-Antichrist is good by the lights of the public. [Removed section supporting this claim.] And who are we to disagree with the dead, the sheep and the shepherds?
(ETA: Contrarian terminology aside, the claim looks absurd without its supporting arguments… ugh.)
However, non-worldly intelligent people like Rousseau and Marx frequently give the new values that make people like Robespierre and Stalin possible.
In the public mind Rousseau and Marx and their intellectual progeny are generally seen as cosmically connected/intelligent/progressive, right? Maybe overzealous, but their hearts were in the right place. If so that would support the intelligence=goodness claim. If the Enlightenment is good by the lights of the public, then the uFAI-Antichrist is good by the lights of the public. [Removed section supporting this claim.] And who are we to disagree with the dead, the sheep and the shepherds?
(ETA: Contrarian terminology aside, the claim looks absurd without its supporting arguments… ugh.)
Depends on which subset of the public we’re talking about.
I’m confused, is this an appeal to popular opinion?
Of course. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast/dragon]” Revelations 13:8
People in a position to witness the practical results of their philosophy.
Why exactly did you remove that section?