Dobbs: I was reading an old interview with that young folk singer, Bob Dylan, the other day, trying to see why he's so popular. He mentioned he read some Kant in college. What do you think of Kant as a philosopher?
LaRouche: Kant said there is no such thing as a cognizable creative process by which scientific discoveries are made. He also said later there is no cognizable process by which you can judge whether a form of art is good or not. It's all arbitrary. Now I don't agree with that at all. I operate on the exact opposite principle--that you can know the creative process. How does one come to this knowledge? By re-experiencing the act of discovery by original discoverers of principle from the past - beginning, in most cases, with the ancient Greeks. By reliving the paradox or problem, then reliving the flash of insight, and then reliving the proof of the principle, followed by the idea of applying the principle - by knowing, rather than memorizing, the most crucial experiences of scientific discovery and art in the known history of mankind, you learn nothing, but you know everything. And the tragedy is that Kant has greater influence today because he was resurrected by the likes of Norbert Wiener and his “information theory.” Bob Dylan is a product of an educational system that is organized around the principle of learning, and not knowing. He makes bad art!
Dobbs: That's an eloquent answer, Lyn. Have you ever heard of Marshall McLuhan?
LaRouche: No.
Dobbs: Well, you will over the next few months. There is going to be a publicity blitz to raise his profile. I mention him because I know him personally and he has always stressed that he knows the identity of the processes of cognition and creation. That sounds anti-Kantian to me. I'm going to get you two together as soon as possible so you can compare notes. Meanwhile, watch for him in the media.
LaRouche: I'll look forward to it. “Marshall McLuhan” - what a strange name!
Bob and Lyndon parted as LaRouche hopped a subway taking him up to Columbia University to teach a class, and Dobbs stopped to pick up the latest issue of the East Village Other, the Village Voice, and the New York Times.
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