The Third Friesian School

 I think the ideas of Dr. Kelley Ross ought to be thought of as a third Friesian School. Not like the first of Apelt. Not like the second [called the New Friesian School] of Leonard Nelson. For his ideas are based a lot on a synthesis of thinkers from Kant, Fries, Nelson, but also Otto, Popper, and Schopenhauer.  

I mean to say that it only takes a brief look into Fries himself to see his antiquated anti-atomism or Nelson to see his fight against Special Relativity. [And that itself led to Reichenbach and the whole Berlin School going off into other directions which were even more flawed.]

{Not that I can see everything like Dr. Ross. I just can not see the critique on Hegel. Even recently the idea of Hegel's seeing the importance of individualism was brought to my attention in Cunningham's PhD thesis a century ago. {There he brings Hegel' idea that Substance and the State are the Thesis and anti Thesis while the Individualism is the Synthesis.]

And I think that Dr. Ross mainly does not like the fact that Marxists used Hegel to prop up their system. I mean to say that Dr. Ross does not like the fact that the Left are always out to get America. You can see this by the fact that they always find fault in everything that the USA stands for and has ever done. So the fact that they used Hegel implies blame on Hegel. But I think they just misused Hegel. Abusus non tollit usum. Abuse does not cancel use.

[And when it comes to internal strife, there is a sort of calming influence of Communism to get people to give up fighting and settle down to an authoritarian regime. But the trouble begins when they try to take down democratic systems.

To see hints in things is an important principle. In the LeM of Rav Nahman it is brought that God minimizes Himself to send hints to a person in things that happen to him. This might be applied wrongly, but it is a an important that can show one what he is doing wrong. You might notice, for example, that things are not going as well for you as you had thought. This is because in the very things that are going wrong, there is hidden a message. Perhaps to cease and  desist doing something you thought was a great mitzvah? 

Rav Israel Salanter about learning Musar.

 On Shabat I noticed  the chapter in Job [circa 25 or around there] that discusses the question "Where is  wisdom to be found.?" Then it goes through a long list of all the places and approaches that do not work. The depths say it is not in them. Not the sea or land or heavens. It seems clear that even all the efforts that one might expend on finding wisdom, nothing works--until finally at the very end of that chapter one (and only one) way is found. That is Fear of God.  "Fear of God is Wisdom."

So you see the idea of Rav Israel Salanter about learning Musar. I.e., the books that show how to come to authentic fear of God.   

The benefit of this is according to Job is that it brings one to true wisdom.

[If only I would merit to this!! I spent a good deal of time while at the Mir in New York (outside of the regular sedarim (sessions of learning which were five hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon.). But still I found time to go through a lot of the basic group of Musar books. [The classical mediaeval  five or six plus some  of the achronim[authorities after Rav Joseph Karo]]. I can say that this definitely helped me in many ways. 

[So what makes sense to me is to have yeshivot that walk in the path of Musar and the Gra.]

[I might mention that Musar sessions in yeshivot are short. In my opinion it would be better to have the original time period of forty minutes after the morning session of gemara until mincha. [i.e. Gemara until 130 P.M., then musar for 40 minutes. ] Then 30 minutes before maariv [i.e. Gemara fast learning from 4 P.M. until 8P.M. the 30 minutes of Musar.]

[Job clearly hold taking Diversity Studies does not help to come to wisdom. But further than that, he is saying all the other ideas that one might think help are delusions.]

 z60 midi file

 Sandra Lehmann (a Ph.D student at Hebrew U ) once told me that, "There is something odd about the study of philosophy in that it seems to take common sense away from people." That must be the reason even brilliant people after doing philosophy come up with really odd stuff. 

However I realize that philosophy is important in terms of using reason to examine ones' beliefs. It is important to have an over view of everything.. One must have some sort of answer to the question: What is it all about? You do not get tht from the natural sciences. But in this exact area that is where philosophy and the social sciences have failed measurably. So what I think is that Kant and Hegel are important. But I would also like to mention some modern people that have some clear vision in an age when vision is gone.

Kelley Ross I think is the best , but also there is Michael Huemer.

Lieutenant Simon

Lieutenant Simon was the person that organized the rescue of the people working in Iran [for Ross Perot] at the time of the revolution. And he was successful. [While the attempt of the US government to rescue its people there failed.] What was the secret of Lieutenant Simon? Reconnaissance. Always check it out before you jump in. 

One of the advantages that I gained in Shar Yashuv and later the Mir in NY was listening from people that knew Torah very well. [Naftali Yeager, Shmuel Berenbaum]. I have suspected that it is impossible to come to understand "how to learn " without receiving it from someone that knows.

And even after all that I still never really got the idea until years later I began to learn with David Bronson and then seeing this same sort of deep learning and then it finally started to sink unto me what it is all about.

I mean to say that there have been self taught people like Abraham Lincoln, but I wonder how far that can go? 

Maybe if Abraham Lincoln had gone to university, and did not have to rely only on self taught learning, maybe he would have realized that it was the North that was the rebel. In the Constitution and in the Federalist Papers there can not be anything more clear than the fact that the Federal Government has only enumerated powers things stated openly that the Constitution grants to the Federal Government. In any case, I sometimes think that anyone could get the iea just by learning a lot of Tosphot, Rav Chaim of Brisk, the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach. Other times it seems that one needs to listen to a teacher that knows all this.