But I think it is wise to allow them the opportunity to read Locke and Mill during the high school years, you know, if for some reason they decide that they want to.
I have every such intention: I may dislike Locke's philosophy and despise Mill's, but they're both useful perspectives to have an understanding of. And I am most definitely NOT a proponent of willful ignorance! Just because I disagree with someone, even fundamentally, doesn't mean that ignoring them or even really censoring them is an appropriate response: rather, study, debate, and understanding. I believe I can understand someone and still disagree with what they have to say. Such is what I think is appropriate for Pullman -- but as I said, it's a dangerous sort of thing. It's something which needs to be handled delicately, like a gun or a wild animal. It's something which may have the potential for very scintillating conversation, but it's also something which needs to be handled carefully with children.
(Tangentially, just this weekend my brothers and I were talking about Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno -- completely divorced from Pullman -- and the implications of what it would mean if Lucifer were *not* a rebel angel so much as an agent of God playing out his appointed roll. It's a VERY interesting thing to think about and discuss, but much in the same way as Pullman's book -- from my perspective, of course -- it is not a topic suitable to present to children.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-11-27 09:53 pm (UTC)I have every such intention: I may dislike Locke's philosophy and despise Mill's, but they're both useful perspectives to have an understanding of. And I am most definitely NOT a proponent of willful ignorance! Just because I disagree with someone, even fundamentally, doesn't mean that ignoring them or even really censoring them is an appropriate response: rather, study, debate, and understanding. I believe I can understand someone and still disagree with what they have to say. Such is what I think is appropriate for Pullman -- but as I said, it's a dangerous sort of thing. It's something which needs to be handled delicately, like a gun or a wild animal. It's something which may have the potential for very scintillating conversation, but it's also something which needs to be handled carefully with children.
(Tangentially, just this weekend my brothers and I were talking about Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno -- completely divorced from Pullman -- and the implications of what it would mean if Lucifer were *not* a rebel angel so much as an agent of God playing out his appointed roll. It's a VERY interesting thing to think about and discuss, but much in the same way as Pullman's book -- from my perspective, of course -- it is not a topic suitable to present to children.