The Solitary Self
28/04/11 10:21 Filed in: Human Nature
I’m reading through Mary Midgley’s latest, The Solitary Self: Darwin and the Selfish Gene. I love Midgley’s work: it’s informed, it’s clearly written and accessible, and it’s trenchant in its commentary. What’s more, she takes the reductionists, like Dawkins, to task.
Midgley makes an interesting point on page 19: “‘Social Atomism’ is a combination of the deep individualism of our time -- something that will occupy us throughout the book -- and a prejudice about method: a general idea that it is always more scientific to consider separate components than the larger wholes to which they belong.” In other words, social atomism reflects both deep individualism and a prejudice about scientific method.
The point about scientific method makes some sense. It should be obvious, however, that we cannot understand human beings as isolated from their societies. Yet, this point is often rejected by political philosophers, especially in the analytic tradition, and it often rejected by our culture. We think we can understand human beings as single entities whole unto themselves.
The point should be, however, that individualism makes everything the same; it actually opposes individuality. When we analyze one atom to see what gold is like; we understand all atoms. Trying to understand things in their separate components means that, on the one hand, we identify component parts as identical and, on the other, that we ignore what individualizes the individuals of the whole. On the one hand, studying Adam tells us everything we need to know about Peter and Paul. On the other hand, when we study Adam, we miss out on what makes Adam different from Peter and Paul, and vice versa. We also tend to misunderstand some of the most important elements of Adam: his social nature.
And, of course, because we focus on studying “man,” we miss out on the particular social nature of “women” which could provide us even more insight into “man.”
Different levels of science, then, should study different aspects of reality. Some science must study the human being as individual-in-the-whole.
Midgley makes an interesting point on page 19: “‘Social Atomism’ is a combination of the deep individualism of our time -- something that will occupy us throughout the book -- and a prejudice about method: a general idea that it is always more scientific to consider separate components than the larger wholes to which they belong.” In other words, social atomism reflects both deep individualism and a prejudice about scientific method.
The point about scientific method makes some sense. It should be obvious, however, that we cannot understand human beings as isolated from their societies. Yet, this point is often rejected by political philosophers, especially in the analytic tradition, and it often rejected by our culture. We think we can understand human beings as single entities whole unto themselves.
The point should be, however, that individualism makes everything the same; it actually opposes individuality. When we analyze one atom to see what gold is like; we understand all atoms. Trying to understand things in their separate components means that, on the one hand, we identify component parts as identical and, on the other, that we ignore what individualizes the individuals of the whole. On the one hand, studying Adam tells us everything we need to know about Peter and Paul. On the other hand, when we study Adam, we miss out on what makes Adam different from Peter and Paul, and vice versa. We also tend to misunderstand some of the most important elements of Adam: his social nature.
And, of course, because we focus on studying “man,” we miss out on the particular social nature of “women” which could provide us even more insight into “man.”
Different levels of science, then, should study different aspects of reality. Some science must study the human being as individual-in-the-whole.
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Bad Higher Education
27/04/11 11:22 Filed in: Education | social justice
A recent article on n+1 discusses the various abuses in higher education today. These abuses include the following:
1. Student loan debt
2. The financial profit from reshuffling debt the way financiers did with the housing market
3. For profit colleges
4. The fact that a college education means higher debt with no pay increase over the last 20+ years
5. Increase in administrators in college
6. The decrease in full-time faculty
7. The abuse of graduate students
8. The abuse of adjunct faculty
9. The lies and other deceits of colleges in the financial aid process
10. The job-is-everything mentality.
I’ve already spoken about several of these issues on this blog.
What struck me as appalling in this latest article, however, is the reported fact that by 2014, college administrators will outnumber college faculty.
Here we see, again, the new dark times that MacIntyre speaks about in After Virtue. These dark times are marked by the dominance of bureaucrats and managers who, rather than engaging in a practice, try to manage and control practices. Most importantly, such bureaucrats both undermine free agency and subvert the internal goods of practices.
For instance, philosophy, art, French constitute practices with their own internal goods. For philosophy, those internal goods include wisdom, rhetoric, and dialogue. Yet, because of the new system, what’s important in colleges consists, not in producing wisdom, but in producing people with degrees. If you don’t produce the right amount of degrees, then you aren’t worth anything, because degrees mean money -- income.
When we reduce education to income, as we have in this country for so long, we’ve undermined every possibility for freedom at the ground level.
1. Student loan debt
2. The financial profit from reshuffling debt the way financiers did with the housing market
3. For profit colleges
4. The fact that a college education means higher debt with no pay increase over the last 20+ years
5. Increase in administrators in college
6. The decrease in full-time faculty
7. The abuse of graduate students
8. The abuse of adjunct faculty
9. The lies and other deceits of colleges in the financial aid process
10. The job-is-everything mentality.
I’ve already spoken about several of these issues on this blog.
What struck me as appalling in this latest article, however, is the reported fact that by 2014, college administrators will outnumber college faculty.
Here we see, again, the new dark times that MacIntyre speaks about in After Virtue. These dark times are marked by the dominance of bureaucrats and managers who, rather than engaging in a practice, try to manage and control practices. Most importantly, such bureaucrats both undermine free agency and subvert the internal goods of practices.
For instance, philosophy, art, French constitute practices with their own internal goods. For philosophy, those internal goods include wisdom, rhetoric, and dialogue. Yet, because of the new system, what’s important in colleges consists, not in producing wisdom, but in producing people with degrees. If you don’t produce the right amount of degrees, then you aren’t worth anything, because degrees mean money -- income.
When we reduce education to income, as we have in this country for so long, we’ve undermined every possibility for freedom at the ground level.
EFM, or Dystopia Now
26/04/11 11:27 Filed in: social justice
Rania Khalik, in a very powerful article, tells us about the new Emergency Financial Managers which governors can hire to go into a town or a school district and remove any semblance of democracy in the face of emergencies these governors have in fact created.
Alasdair MacIntyre has been warning about this for over two decades. When he writes that we need to protect local communities from the bureaucrats of the left and the right, he is talking exactly about this sort of maneuver. Bureaucracy removes any semblance or reality of democracy in the name of some “emergency.”
Dystopian fiction has warned about this as well, in Brave New World, 1984, Brazil, V for Vendetta and many others.
We have been warned but we have failed to do anything about to protect ourselves.
The question remains, What can we do in the face of EFMs? How can we protect our communities, our children, our future, and our democracy?
We must organize as small, local communities that embrace the common good and resist the powers of domination that come from EFMs and like-minded individuals. How do we do this?
By going to town hall meetings.
By supporting our unions.
By supporting our teachers and our schools.
By voicing our concerns.
By organizing.
By making sure we do not vote for either major party.
Alasdair MacIntyre has been warning about this for over two decades. When he writes that we need to protect local communities from the bureaucrats of the left and the right, he is talking exactly about this sort of maneuver. Bureaucracy removes any semblance or reality of democracy in the name of some “emergency.”
Dystopian fiction has warned about this as well, in Brave New World, 1984, Brazil, V for Vendetta and many others.
We have been warned but we have failed to do anything about to protect ourselves.
The question remains, What can we do in the face of EFMs? How can we protect our communities, our children, our future, and our democracy?
We must organize as small, local communities that embrace the common good and resist the powers of domination that come from EFMs and like-minded individuals. How do we do this?
By going to town hall meetings.
By supporting our unions.
By supporting our teachers and our schools.
By voicing our concerns.
By organizing.
By making sure we do not vote for either major party.
We are Resurrection April 2011
25/04/11 15:04 Filed in: Catholic Church | Catholic Social Teaching
We are a Resurrection People!
We spent 6 weeks sacrificing, reflecting, and changing our habits.
Now we have 8 weeks to celebrate our Resurrection! Our renewal in new forms of habits, new virtues, new life! What this time means is that we celebrate our change: we continue to practice the new virtues and habits that we developed: whether that be walking or other forms of exercise, abstaining from meat or other forms of diet, complimenting people or other forms of social interaction, praying or other forms of personal relationship with God, our emergence from Lent into the Easter season means that we continue to progress as new people.
Easter represents new life -- life in God reflected in how we live everyday with each other.
The changes we have worked so hard for must pay off in how we live our everyday life. This means thinking about the person who cut us off in traffic and hoping he or she makes her appointment on time and safe. It means talking to each other and trying to understand the other person. Listening!
All of these changes should reflect in our community and political involvement. I do not mean whether we vote democrat or republican, but the way we vote. How do we approach voting? How do we approach issues of social justice? How do we approach constructing the common good?
Christian life is lived everyday in community, the best political life is one lived in community seeking a common good and living virtuously so that all can be Resurrection!
That is our calling!
We spent 6 weeks sacrificing, reflecting, and changing our habits.
Now we have 8 weeks to celebrate our Resurrection! Our renewal in new forms of habits, new virtues, new life! What this time means is that we celebrate our change: we continue to practice the new virtues and habits that we developed: whether that be walking or other forms of exercise, abstaining from meat or other forms of diet, complimenting people or other forms of social interaction, praying or other forms of personal relationship with God, our emergence from Lent into the Easter season means that we continue to progress as new people.
Easter represents new life -- life in God reflected in how we live everyday with each other.
The changes we have worked so hard for must pay off in how we live our everyday life. This means thinking about the person who cut us off in traffic and hoping he or she makes her appointment on time and safe. It means talking to each other and trying to understand the other person. Listening!
All of these changes should reflect in our community and political involvement. I do not mean whether we vote democrat or republican, but the way we vote. How do we approach voting? How do we approach issues of social justice? How do we approach constructing the common good?
Christian life is lived everyday in community, the best political life is one lived in community seeking a common good and living virtuously so that all can be Resurrection!
That is our calling!
10 Ways to Commemorate Good Friday AND Earth Day
22/04/11 12:20 Filed in: Catholic Church | Catholic Social Teaching
Here are ten ways you can commemorate Good Friday and Earth Day on 22 April 2011.
1. Don’t eat meat: a requirement for Catholics and many other Christians and does a lot to save the environment.
2. Walk or Bike to Good Friday Services
Bonus: Make it a family affair
3. Talk to someone about how abortion, the death penalty, mistreatment of women, and destruction of the environment are all part of the Culture of Death, and we cannot overcome the Culture of Death piecemeal by passing this or that piece of legislation against abortion or environmental degradation.
Bonus: write your legislators to produce the culture of death in all of its forms.
4. Adopt a pet from an animal shelter that kills.
Bonus: make sure it’s neutered
5. Walk the Stations of the Cross in the beautiful sunshine or the beautiful rain.
Many cities have outdoor Stations. Cincinnati, at midnight on Holy Thursday, you can join the hundred of people who climb the stairs from the river to Immaculata Church praying the rosary. In Mount Angel, you can pray the Stations as you walk the hill to the Abbey Church. I’m sure other cities have such beautiful places.
6. Carpool with someone: sorta the way Simon helped Jesus carry the cross.
7. On your lunch break, walk around the city and pick up trash, praying a bead on the rosary for each piece you pick up.
8. Paint a picture or write a poem that combines the themes of crucifixion and Earth Day.
9. Tell your loved ones you want a natural earth-friendly burial and call the funeral home to arrange it.
10. Play Copeland’s Appalachian Spring: the music for “Lord of the Dance” and Spring music.
Bonus #1: Make up your own list, post it below and share it with friends.
Bonus #2: Think of Ten Ways to Celebrate Easter and Earth Day and share it with friends.
Have a Blessed Easter!
1. Don’t eat meat: a requirement for Catholics and many other Christians and does a lot to save the environment.
2. Walk or Bike to Good Friday Services
Bonus: Make it a family affair
3. Talk to someone about how abortion, the death penalty, mistreatment of women, and destruction of the environment are all part of the Culture of Death, and we cannot overcome the Culture of Death piecemeal by passing this or that piece of legislation against abortion or environmental degradation.
Bonus: write your legislators to produce the culture of death in all of its forms.
4. Adopt a pet from an animal shelter that kills.
Bonus: make sure it’s neutered
5. Walk the Stations of the Cross in the beautiful sunshine or the beautiful rain.
Many cities have outdoor Stations. Cincinnati, at midnight on Holy Thursday, you can join the hundred of people who climb the stairs from the river to Immaculata Church praying the rosary. In Mount Angel, you can pray the Stations as you walk the hill to the Abbey Church. I’m sure other cities have such beautiful places.
6. Carpool with someone: sorta the way Simon helped Jesus carry the cross.
7. On your lunch break, walk around the city and pick up trash, praying a bead on the rosary for each piece you pick up.
8. Paint a picture or write a poem that combines the themes of crucifixion and Earth Day.
9. Tell your loved ones you want a natural earth-friendly burial and call the funeral home to arrange it.
10. Play Copeland’s Appalachian Spring: the music for “Lord of the Dance” and Spring music.
Bonus #1: Make up your own list, post it below and share it with friends.
Bonus #2: Think of Ten Ways to Celebrate Easter and Earth Day and share it with friends.
Have a Blessed Easter!
There But for the Grace of God...
18/04/11 11:28 Filed in: social justice | Catholic Social Teaching
In a recent article, George Lakoff holds that Obama has returned to a moral vision that democrats and progressives should pay attention. Lakoff summarizes that moral vision in the following words:
Democracy is based on empathy, that is, on citizens caring about each other and acting on that care, taking responsibility not just for themselves but for their families, communities and their nation. The role of government is to carry out this principle in two ways: protection and empowerment.
It seems to me, regardless of whether this vision is one Obama shares, that it should be one that you and I and Obama shares. As I’ve argued on this blog before, we are not alligators or vampires -- independent agents able to care solely for ourselves. Rather, we are social beings who require each other -- who require a community shaped by a common good -- to care for each other (when young, when old, when ill, when weak) and to live a good life (as Aristotle asks: who would want to live without friends).
Libertarians, Republicans, and other conservatives often speak about being responsible. Yet, responsibility extends beyond the self. Responsibility entails responsibility for those in my family and in my community and even in the larger world. Democracy can be one of the best ways to secure the community and the individual by both protecting and empowering. Yet, it seems that our discourse today in the public is never so much about empowering as it is about protecting from unknown enemies who might destroy our way of life.
If we empower people -- the people in our families, in our communities, in our world -- we undermine any possibility that others can destroy that way of life.
Which is a key idea to keep in mind as we enter Holy Week and our remembrance of the death of Jesus. Jesus died to empower us -- to lead us in making good decisions about caring for others. He did not die for Himself. It’s this central image -- Jesus care for others -- that must motivate our Catholic identity as those most concerned with issues of social justice. Until we do that, we are not really Christian.
Democracy is based on empathy, that is, on citizens caring about each other and acting on that care, taking responsibility not just for themselves but for their families, communities and their nation. The role of government is to carry out this principle in two ways: protection and empowerment.
It seems to me, regardless of whether this vision is one Obama shares, that it should be one that you and I and Obama shares. As I’ve argued on this blog before, we are not alligators or vampires -- independent agents able to care solely for ourselves. Rather, we are social beings who require each other -- who require a community shaped by a common good -- to care for each other (when young, when old, when ill, when weak) and to live a good life (as Aristotle asks: who would want to live without friends).
Libertarians, Republicans, and other conservatives often speak about being responsible. Yet, responsibility extends beyond the self. Responsibility entails responsibility for those in my family and in my community and even in the larger world. Democracy can be one of the best ways to secure the community and the individual by both protecting and empowering. Yet, it seems that our discourse today in the public is never so much about empowering as it is about protecting from unknown enemies who might destroy our way of life.
If we empower people -- the people in our families, in our communities, in our world -- we undermine any possibility that others can destroy that way of life.
Which is a key idea to keep in mind as we enter Holy Week and our remembrance of the death of Jesus. Jesus died to empower us -- to lead us in making good decisions about caring for others. He did not die for Himself. It’s this central image -- Jesus care for others -- that must motivate our Catholic identity as those most concerned with issues of social justice. Until we do that, we are not really Christian.
Self Help: Myth or Virtue
07/04/11 13:54 Filed in: Human Nature | social justice
Talk of the Nation aired a show discussing Manning Marable and Malcolm X. Marable died earlier this week. On the show, Eric Michael Dyson spoke. One of the questions centered on what African-Americans can do to help themselves. Dyson noted that Marable and Malcolm X, as well as MLK jr. and many other prominent African-Americans have insisted that African-Americans must work to improve their situations, including improving their neighborhoods and cities. Along with that call, however, many have pointed out the structures in society that prevent people from helping themselves.
First, I want to recognize that this issue of helping one’s self is very important, and that society does support structures which often make it difficult if not impossible for people to help themselves -- to practice virtues of independence like phronesis. Take, for instance, education: the way we’ve distributed money for education in this country means that children born or raised in poor school districts have less access to books and computers -- and even papers and pens -- that people born in wealthier neighborhoods have. Having an education is necessary for developing phronesis. More to the point: these schools are often over-crowded, and so, even if a student does show some promise, they often cannot make anything near like the headway that someone born in other circumstances could make. This constitutes structural injustice -- structural sin.
Second, however, I wonder if we are wise to talk about self-help in this way. It’s too easy to start talking about pulling one’s self up by one’s boot straps. But, of course, one has to have boot straps to begin with, and usually the rhetoric about self-help and boot-strapping is a mask for that fact.
Certainly we have to support structures --including community education -- that help individuals develop those virtues necessary for independence -- including phronesis and self-esteem. Yet, we have to recognize that those virtues develop only within contexts of acknowledged dependence. We are each, as individuals, dependent on someone at times in our lives -- whether that means only when we are newborns and children, or whether it means throughout our lives. Yet, trying to develop self-esteem without recognizing our dependence on others is to develop a deformity: a vice of self-importance or narcissism.
Individuals and communities grow hand in hand.
First, I want to recognize that this issue of helping one’s self is very important, and that society does support structures which often make it difficult if not impossible for people to help themselves -- to practice virtues of independence like phronesis. Take, for instance, education: the way we’ve distributed money for education in this country means that children born or raised in poor school districts have less access to books and computers -- and even papers and pens -- that people born in wealthier neighborhoods have. Having an education is necessary for developing phronesis. More to the point: these schools are often over-crowded, and so, even if a student does show some promise, they often cannot make anything near like the headway that someone born in other circumstances could make. This constitutes structural injustice -- structural sin.
Second, however, I wonder if we are wise to talk about self-help in this way. It’s too easy to start talking about pulling one’s self up by one’s boot straps. But, of course, one has to have boot straps to begin with, and usually the rhetoric about self-help and boot-strapping is a mask for that fact.
Certainly we have to support structures --including community education -- that help individuals develop those virtues necessary for independence -- including phronesis and self-esteem. Yet, we have to recognize that those virtues develop only within contexts of acknowledged dependence. We are each, as individuals, dependent on someone at times in our lives -- whether that means only when we are newborns and children, or whether it means throughout our lives. Yet, trying to develop self-esteem without recognizing our dependence on others is to develop a deformity: a vice of self-importance or narcissism.
Individuals and communities grow hand in hand.
Greed and God
06/04/11 09:56 Filed in: social justice | Catholic Social Teaching
Most psychologically healthy adults recognize in their heart of hearts the moral perversion of the old economy, but may fear to speak up because so many experts—including even some religious leaders—continuously assure us in so many words that greed is good, even that God wants us to be financially rich and financial wealth is a mark of God’s favor.
So writes David Korten in a blog. And he’s right. But we need to look at the broader picture.
According to Max Weber, famed sociologist, an aspect of Christianity preaches that God favors his favorites by making them financially rich and, conversely, that being rich is a sign of God’s favor. Capitalism would not be possible, so Weber argues, without this Christian ethic. The ethic stretches back to the Old Testament too. Recall that Job was rich, and when he lost his wealth, his friends asked him what sin he committed.
We have to contend against this ethic that says God measures us by the amount of wealth we have. That paints a picture of a God of money, not a God of love. Jesus tells us over and over again, that His Father is a Loving Father.
And if we start thinking about Jesus, about God, and about religion in those terms, our picture of wealth and wealth creation must change. This contest -- the contest between the growth of profit and the growth of the human person -- constitutes the greatest challenge of all time and the defining element of our modern Western civilization. We are on the brink of choosing the wrong side as politicians attempt to strip workers of their rights, and as we condemn unions for sending jobs overseas. It is not unions that cause jobs to go over seas. Multinational corporations who define their values solely in light of the profit motive send jobs overseas.
Only by uniting against the wealth mongers and seeing God as love will we be able to overcome this trial and survive into a new, more wholesome age.
So writes David Korten in a blog. And he’s right. But we need to look at the broader picture.
According to Max Weber, famed sociologist, an aspect of Christianity preaches that God favors his favorites by making them financially rich and, conversely, that being rich is a sign of God’s favor. Capitalism would not be possible, so Weber argues, without this Christian ethic. The ethic stretches back to the Old Testament too. Recall that Job was rich, and when he lost his wealth, his friends asked him what sin he committed.
We have to contend against this ethic that says God measures us by the amount of wealth we have. That paints a picture of a God of money, not a God of love. Jesus tells us over and over again, that His Father is a Loving Father.
And if we start thinking about Jesus, about God, and about religion in those terms, our picture of wealth and wealth creation must change. This contest -- the contest between the growth of profit and the growth of the human person -- constitutes the greatest challenge of all time and the defining element of our modern Western civilization. We are on the brink of choosing the wrong side as politicians attempt to strip workers of their rights, and as we condemn unions for sending jobs overseas. It is not unions that cause jobs to go over seas. Multinational corporations who define their values solely in light of the profit motive send jobs overseas.
Only by uniting against the wealth mongers and seeing God as love will we be able to overcome this trial and survive into a new, more wholesome age.
MLK jr, Worker's Rights, April 4th
04/04/11 12:40 Filed in: social justice | Catholic Social Teaching
As Think Progress notes, Dr. King died 43 years ago today, marching and speaking about collective bargaining rights for trash collectors in Memphis, TN.
I’ve visited the spot where he was shot on that clear morning so long ago. It was a very spiritually moving moment standing outside the Civil Rights Museum looking into the hotel room he spent his last night.
Yet, 43 years later, we see one of the strongest attacks on collective bargaining rights in the history of the world.
Why?
We’re told we need to end collective bargaining of public employees in order to close the budget gaps at many state levels. We all know that is bull!
Republican governors across the US think they can end collective bargaining rights thus serving their rich contributors and making it less likely for people to vote in the future for their democratic rivals. But democrats are doing very little to help protect the worker when the worker is in power.
Here’s the truth: we have a moral choice to make between protecting the subject -- the worker -- or protecting the object -- the bottom line.
MLK jr got shot because he told us what God wanted.
I’ve visited the spot where he was shot on that clear morning so long ago. It was a very spiritually moving moment standing outside the Civil Rights Museum looking into the hotel room he spent his last night.
Yet, 43 years later, we see one of the strongest attacks on collective bargaining rights in the history of the world.
Why?
We’re told we need to end collective bargaining of public employees in order to close the budget gaps at many state levels. We all know that is bull!
Republican governors across the US think they can end collective bargaining rights thus serving their rich contributors and making it less likely for people to vote in the future for their democratic rivals. But democrats are doing very little to help protect the worker when the worker is in power.
Here’s the truth: we have a moral choice to make between protecting the subject -- the worker -- or protecting the object -- the bottom line.
MLK jr got shot because he told us what God wanted.