[Avodah] anarchy/libertarianism

[David Riceman]

Micha Berger wrote:
> In general, the Rambam places yedi'ah on a pedestal much higher than most
> of us would. If you don't think that a philosopher is one step below a
> navi, then I don't know if you can invoke further implications of that
> hashkafah to prove your point.
>   
  The nature of prophecy is really not closely related to the Rambam's 
point in the PHM, in spite of the polemical drasha there.
> I think most of us today put a person's ehrlachkeit and deveiqus on a
> more central pedestal than intellectual comprehension.
>   
Throughout Jewish literature, from the Bible to aharonei aharonim, you 
find warnings that piety which exceeds understanding is dangerous 
(though, I should add, you also find warnings about the contrary).  
Tangentially, I don't understand how polling produces evidence (and the 
Rambam explicitly rejects determining one's opinions through polling).
> AishDas's [borrowed] motto, which is just my own understanding of Dr
> Nathan Birnbaum's motto for haOlim, is "Daas Rachamim Tif'eres". (See
> RYGB's JO (?} article at <http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/birnbaum.htm>.)
> Daas in this context is being used in a very different way than the
> Rambam's philosophical understanding of what Hashem isn't. To DNB, daas is
> knowing G-d, not knowing /about/ G-d, that which includes hislahavus and
> hachna'ah.
See the discussion of the phrase "hesed mishpat utzedakah" in MN III:54 
(the final chapter).
>  
David Riceman