Why philosophical debate belongs here

[Brian Sorgatz]

I wrote:
>     Brian> I'm not necessarily calling for a new official statement to
>     Brian> replace or supplement the one Hef made in the Sixties.  I'm
>     Brian> just hoping for a shift in some of PLAYBOY's attitudes and
>     Brian> biases and a renewed sense of mission, if you will.  But my
>     Brian> main hope in submitting that post was to get *us* talking
>     Brian> about these kinds of things.  I believe this would advance
>     Brian> the goals of this discussion, because the general ideas
>     Brian> that inspire PLAYBOY are just as important as the concrete
>     Brian> details of its form.  So how about it, ladies and
>     Brian> gentlemen?  Do you agree or disagree with my comments on
>     Brian> reverse puritanism and humanism?

Peggy Wilkins replied:
>I am not sure I could do anything with a discussion at that level of
>detail in terms of the written report that is the goal of this
>project.  How would you see this philosophical discussion being used
>for that?  In other words, how would the details of that discussion
>help PLAYBOY think about and enact what they wish to do in the future?
>I can't see just now see how to fit it in.

To answer your question, I'll have to make my best guess about the
format of your upcoming report.  I imagine that it will be a survey of
the various opinions expressed here organized by category (Playmates,
artwork, fashion, Forum, Interview, etc.).  If so, simply add
Philosophy as another category, maybe with puritanism, humanism,
etc. as subcategories.

>I also ask, what kinds of conclusions would we want to get out of it?
>By conclusions, I don't mean in terms of a consensus (which I don't
>expect us to arrive at in general anyway -- I see us as being here to
>discuss things, and not necessarily to agree about them) but more
>generally in terms of some kind of outcome.

Ideas have unforeseen consequences, like the squashed butterfly that
changes the course of history in a Ray Bradbury time-travel story that
PLAYBOY published.  Over time, the social, political, and
philosophical ideas that inspire PLAYBOY influence every aspect of the
magazine, not just the Forum.  Even if only unconsciously, they help
shape lots of little decisions about content and style.  So let's try
to improve the quality of all those little decisions by refining the
big ideas that underlie them.

Brian Sorgatz