Lewis right on debate

Re: Why debate is a virtue, not a sin, Leslyn Lewis, Nov. 14

Leslyn Lewis’s article should be required reading for entrance to all universities if not citizenship of North America. If the U. S. election had been covered as a referendum on free speech instead of Donald Trump, the results may have been different. Shame on the media for manipulating what they chose to present and the Republicans for not emphasizing that their values were at stake. All of this reminds me of two great lines “I don’t care what denomination you belong to as long as you’re embarrassed of it,” and “the four most religious words ever written are ‘ I may be wrong.’” Whatever happened to humility?

David Burstein, Toronto

I would agree with Leslyn Lewis, that Socratic method would be a suitable antidote for political correctness, though Socrates did get “done in,” for his impudence.

But Lewis also mentions Plato and Hegel, though I would have preferred that she had referenced Aristotle, Kant and Einstein, who did a much better job of exploring the link between human consciousness, and the existential world.

Both Plato and Hegel were very immersed in the exclusive wonders of their own minds, and Hegel particularly, encouraged bad politics both in Germany and the Soviet Union, and these days we are still stuck with Marx.

Beware the arrogance of psychological universalism.

Still, the issue is not that any one philosopher (or politician) has the definitive answer to any one topic, but that we (as individuals) have our skin in the game.

Gordon Watson, Rocky Mountain House, Alta.