Hi Ray,
I'm not really sure what to say about this, except that *possibly* it seems
that my new-found paranoia about the "sort of snide remarks that seem to be
the mode of exchange here" extends to what you write below. :-)
>Jim said in part in another thread:
>"I am "cheering" Mark Sagoff's willingness to make the philosophical points
>he is making, especially in this *particular* setting and in the context in
>which he is making
>them. I think it takes a fair amount of integrity, and guts, really, to do
>what Sagoff is daring to do in front of the assembled group of "experts" on
>the invasive species issue
>whom he is daring to confront."
>
>I knew Sagoff slightly 15-20 years ago when he participated in a number of
>conferences on ethics in agriculture and in an agr econ meeting on ethics
>in agr. I am not at all
>surprised that he would participate, and in the manner that he did, on the
>exotic species symposium. I always saw him in mostly not particularly
>friendly environments. He
>was, and I'm sure still is a gentleman; able, alone, to engage
>agriculturalists/forestry folks on controversial issues with firm respect.
>I never heard him make the sort of snide
>remarks that seem to be the mode of exchange here.
>
>You characterize his appearance as "daring". In my view that is a totally
>inappropriate term.
Ray, in my dictionary, the word "dare" means not only to challenge other
people (which Sagoff is certainly doing here as well, and which I applaud
coincidentally), but it also has a second, somewhat different meaning:
"dare. vb. dared; daring; dares or (auxiliary) dare. . . . vt. 1 a: to
challenge to perform an action . . . <dared him to jump> . . . 2: to have
the courage to contend against, venture, or try <the actress dared a new
interpretation of this classic role>" (Mer. Web. 10th Collegiate).
It is in the *second* sense of the word "dare" that I meant to employ the
term "daring" above when I wrote: "I think it takes a fair amount of
integrity, and guts, really, to do what Sagoff is daring to do in front of
the assembled group of 'experts' on the invasive species issue whom he is
daring to confront." In other words, Ray, I was trying to say that I
admire Sagoff's courage, honesty, and integrity in speaking up--as you do
as well, judging from your account of Sagoff's participation in "mostly not
particularly friendly environments." To me, then, the choice of the
phrase, "what Sagoff is daring to do," is a *totally* appropriate term, not
inappropriate. I did not mean to imply and/or otherwise characterize his
"appearance" as "daring."
Sorry for any misunderstanding or ambiguity here that my choice of words
may have caused.
He was just operating with his native honesty &
>integrity. I would be amazed if
>he acted otherwise.
>
>As you can see I have a very high regard for him.
As do I, Ray, as do I.
Jim T.
>
>Ray
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