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The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP

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> George J. Dance wrote:
> moved from
> https://www.novabbs.com/arts/article-flat.php?id=254114&group=alt.arts.poetry.comments#254114
> 
> On Thu, 16 Jan 2025 0:20:56 +0000, Will Dockery wrote:
> 
> 
>> That's Michael Pendragon, always the Peter Keating styled second hander.
>> 
> 
> 
> Essentially we're in agreement; but I have to raise two non-essential
> points of disagreement. First, I would rather not refer to the subject
> as "Pendragon." The subject's real name is unknown; "Michael Pendragon"
> is just one of his socks, albeit the most prolific one. I would prefer
> to refer to him as "MMP" (which doesn't mean you have to, of course, if
> you disagree).
> 
> Second, I don't think that Peter Keating is the best 'type' to describe
> MMP in the novel. Both Keating and MMP are social metaphysicians - they
> think that reality is whatever people believe it is, the "consensus"
> view of reality. But so do half the novel. Where those two are different
> is that Keating is content to follow the consensus, while MMP believes
> he can actually control reality by controlling others' beliefs. That
> makes him more like two of Rand's other protagonists from that novel,
> Gail Wynand and Ellsworth Toohey. Which of those matches him best is
> still an open question.
> 
> 
>> Why does Michael Pendragon lie and misrepresent so much?
>> 
> 
> 
> MMP has told us he was abused as a boy, and I think that fact is key.
> Lying is one tactic children usually try at some point to escape
> punishment, and an abused child has all the more reason to keep at it ad
> learn how to do it successfully. Since MMP comes across as clever (at
> least 120 IQ), it is also fair to think that he was able to learn to lie
> successfully. So it is fair to conclude that he did learn to lie
> successfully, and escape punishment, more than once.
> 
> While no one can blame a child in that position for lying, his doing so
> successfully would be giving him the wrong feedback, making him think
> that he actually was changing reality by changing his parents' beliefs -
> telling him that in fact reality was whatever one wanted it to be, and
> that he could be that one.
> 
> More later, but I wanted to get these two points on record quickly.



That's Harry Lime in a nutshell.

Well put, George, definitely time for part two.

😉


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The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) - 2025-06-14 09:24 -0400
  Re: The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP Cujo DeSockpuppet <cujo@petitmorte.net> - 2025-06-14 13:52 +0000
    Re: The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) - 2025-06-14 10:03 -0400
    Re: The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) - 2025-06-14 12:48 -0400
      Re: The Donkey is still slurping Petey Rudy Canoza <rudy.can@jllkone.not> - 2025-06-14 14:45 -0400
        Re: The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP Cujo DeSockpuppet <cujo@petitmorte.net> - 2025-06-14 19:51 +0000
        Re: The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP will.dockery@gmail.com (W.Dockery) - 2025-06-14 23:33 +0000
        Re: The donkey slurps Petey Rudy Canoza <rudy.can@jllkone.not> - 2025-06-15 03:38 -0400
    Re: The Psycho-epistemolgy of MMP Cujo DeSockpuppet <cujo@petitmorte.net> - 2025-06-15 00:02 +0000

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