We Value Knowledge Like the Jerk-Off Values Porn
A mini-meditation on Josef Pieper's "Knowledge and Freedom"
If you can gaze upon the naked emperor and call him out with the serene indifference of a Zen master tossing a koan into the void, you’re free.
Truly free.
Not the fake freedom peddled by the digital hucksters, but the kind that doesn’t flinch at the mob’s jeers, the censor’s lash, or the executioner’s axe. You’re not shouting “The bastard’s naked!” to puff yourself up, to hawk a Substack screed, or to curry favor with the emperor’s rivals.
You just say it and move on, with no agitation, like that holy monk who saw a beautiful woman riding naked on a horse. The other monks lowered their eyes. He stared, later telling the monks that he looked because she was beautiful: not “hot” or “bangable,” just beautiful. There's a big difference. Beauty is orans-like transcendent; hot is graspingly masturbatory.
To see the emperor’s nakedness with no agenda, that’s the old, forgotten freedom of the liberal arts, what Newman called “gentlemen’s knowledge.” It’s knowledge chased for its own sake, not yoked to purpose or pimped for profit or power.
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Eric Scheske
Additional Thoughts You Won't Find at My Substack
"Knowledge and Freedom" is the second essay contained in the slender volume, "Abuse of Language--Abuse of Power," which I've long meant to read but never did until this month. James Lindsay mentioned it on a podcast (with Jordan Peterson, I think), prompting me to read it. I'm glad I did. I'm planning another "mini-meditation" on the first essay in the slender volume. The working title of that mini-essay: "Language, Left-Hemisphere Style."
"Abuse" is just like Pieper's other books: dense. Every sentence (every word?) is packed with meaning that needs to be unpacked before you read the next sentence. It's a unique reading experience, exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, productive but unproductive at the same time (tons of insights (productive) but little progress in terms of pages read (unproductive)). You need to get in an entirely different mindset when approaching him.
Anyway, here's an Amazon Associate's link to Abuse, if you're interested.
