Hi Terry,

It is not mentalist (an insulting comment, but never mind - there is more at
stake here). We interpret our biological processes and stimulus through
cognitive processes that form our perceptions. These perceptions are
filtered through our worldview/paradigm/epistemological position. This is
not about theoretical constructs - its about cognition and how we interpret
reality based on how we have learned to perceive reality. Actually the
lineage of thought that leads to this position is biology and cybernetics -
especially Gregory Bateson's* Steps to an Ecology of Mind*. You are wrong to
suggest that the findings in this field suggests otherwise.

I very much doubt I will be able to convince you otherwise in the very
limited about of time I have to engage with this list - since these ideas
are deeply entrenched into contemporary thought. It would be helpful if you
might consider that we need, as a culture hell bent on destroying the
ecological system on which we depend, to revise some of our basic premises.
Until that time comes, I doubt very much there is anything I could say that
would convince you otherwise.

Best wishes,

j

Jody Joanna Boehnert
Director | EcoLabs | www.eco-labs.org | Brixton, London
AHRC sponsored PhD candidate | University of Brighton
0772 555 1550 | Twitter: @ecolabs






On 13 November 2010 16:11, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Cay and Jody,
>
> You say <snip> ... worldview is more fundamental than ethics. Worldviews,
> paradigms or epistemological positions determine ethical points of view, as
> well has how we put our positions into practice. <endsnip>
>
> This is a limited assumption only valid if you take a mentalist or similar
> perspective.
>
> On a more real and less cognitive front, one of the interesting biological
> systems of organisms, including humans, is that which enables an organism
> to
> take multiple inputs and convert them to a single output: a yes/no  or
> do/do
> not  or like/dislike .
>
> This  fundamental biological process is the essence and basis of ethics.
>  It
> is not dependent on thinking, conscious cognition, or theoretical
> constructs.
>
> The  ability to  biologically convert multiple inputs into a single output
> as 'ethical' decisions, the ability to biologically create the 'yes/no from
> multiple inputs,   is what provides the core underlying human processes by
> which it is possible to make the judgements necessary to build a
> 'worldview'.
>
> Hence from ethological and other biological, or even 'design and emotion'
> perspectives, the human ability to do ethics is more fundamental than the
> human ability to have a worldview. From these perspectives, the findings is
> opposite of what you suggest.
>
> Best wishes,
> Terry
>
>
>