>
>
>         Juan, it would be profoundly regrettable if you were to feel that
> those who have misinterpreted what you say make it necessary to abandon
> your discussion. Clearly, you are correct to pursue this discussion to
> its logical conclusion which is a proposal vis a vis educational and
> clinical/counseling psychology to help prevent the development of
> psychopathologies fostered by authoritarian institutions. I hope you will
> continue....
>
>                         Howard
>

I am also interested in the topic. It is meaningful to talk about the
healthy development of a child. There are implicit claims about how children
ought to develop in Dewey, in Russell, in Habermas, and certainly in
Chomsky. I frankly fail to see anything authoritarian in any such
discussion. Just as the claim "Andrew Dice Clay is a pig" is distinct from
the claim "Andrew Dice Clay should not be allowed to speak"--as any civil
libertarian knows--so the claim "a child who develops in such and such a
manner will be a bully" is distinct from the claim "every parent whose child
develops in such and such a manner should be put in re-education camps."
Let's not forget this. Becuase if we abandon claims of the first sort, out
of fear of implying the second sort, we will lose any ability to do science
at all.

Peter Stone
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