tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post2623890043097414897..comments2023-08-20T04:55:39.436-07:00Comments on Ars Psychiatrica: The BicentennialNovalishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-49008457191111723292009-02-12T20:18:00.000-08:002009-02-12T20:18:00.000-08:00Would the Holocaust have happened without Hitler?W...Would the Holocaust have happened without Hitler?<BR/>Would nuclear war have happened without Gorbachev?<BR/>Would humans have happened without dinosaur extinction?<BR/><BR/>Things will/won't always happen into infinity. The happen-ers and the happen-ees are interchangeable within a finite set of probabilities; which still makes Hitler evil.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-283033480677768672009-02-12T10:13:00.000-08:002009-02-12T10:13:00.000-08:00Exactly, they did it -- many, many others would ha...Exactly, they did it -- many, many others would have stood by and done, or said, precisely nothing, no matter how ingenius their ideas. The gap between contemplation and public action is so wide it drives most to impotence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-74317142811264690042009-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:002009-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, ..."Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon 'em." (I paraphrase).<BR/><BR/>I know what you mean--no individual achievement can be disentangled from antecedents and environment, just as there is no hermetic self. But we still give credit where credit is due. Perhaps any number of folks could have done what they did in their situation--but they were the only ones who actually did it. (Well, like I wrote, Wallace almost did it).Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-81362958015805842202009-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:002009-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:00It's hard not to speculate. Were these men great ...It's hard not to speculate. Were these men great in themselves or because they were born into eras that enabled them to <I>become</I> great. If Darwin had never been born, would Wallace or Huxley have put forward evolution in his place? Lincoln in turn, was born into a world where slavery was becoming increasingly unpopular around the world. Would slavery have continued in the South if Lincoln had never been born? We'll never know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com