At 02:18 PM 12/6/1998 EST, Suzanne wrote:
>If the end result of altruism is some benefit then why not extend it to all
>components of the earth and the earth as a whole? Is this a case of the end
>justifying the means? Or is justification even a consideration? Does being
>human have to be a limiting factor?

I quess we approach the world as a 'constituted world' in which social
interactions and private actions are experienced as real and meaningful. In
our believing, communicating, loving, learning, fighting, dreaming,
perceiving and judging we enter the stream of events in our world with
intentions. Our being in the world has intention. Intentionality "implies
embodiment in a world pre-reflectively given at any moment in and through
'my situation.' *Any such situation orginates intersubjectively: We ARE born
of mothers.* Consciousness, intersubjectivity, and situation necessarily
intertwine, then....the concept that points to their interconnection is
"social action." [Mary Rogers, The idea of phenomenlogical sociology, IN
Sociology, Ethnomethdology and Experience. 1983. Cambridge Univ. Press]

"The objective of subjectively meaningful action through ideal types [I pose
the ideal type here as an altruist to natures entities on earth] requires
adherence to three postulates. The postulate of logical consistency requires
a system of constructs be compatible with the requirements of formal logic;
the postulate of subjective interpretation - what typical knowledge must be
attributed to intentional acts; postulate of adequacy - scientific models of
human action be constructed so that if an actor in the life-world conformed
to its specifications or what he or she did would be understandable to that
individual and other common sense individuals."

So my answer relies on the de-construction of some past actions that in my
mind are already actable again in some way that would be understood by
common sense individuals, and ultimately would pass the test of the
ends-means continuum/progression. Altruism toward the earth as a social
action is or may be hypothesized in one of two ways: 1) we are born of
mothers whose lives were nourished by other mothers and by the elements of
the earth. We and my mothers were complete before "THIS HAPPENED, and
intersubjectively we all KNOW THAT IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN AND AGAIN in many
places. Maybe I will go to Tanzania or Chile and correct the cause -
reflectively. Altruism to the earth is deserved because the earth is
altruistic to me, and my dreams, and to my constellation of friends; or 2)
altruism on the part of the earth is a given. It is only necessary to
acknowledge this daily as an supreme organizing principle of which life and
happiness is not possible without this realization - i.e. a mother of core
beliefs. Hi Mom.

We do a lot of judging. It is part of our embodiment in the world. In
judging our actions and others - even their judgements - we are enacting a
previous actor seen or believed that may be a grandmother or some other
common sense individual. In a sense inter pares, between equals.

"In the world of daily life, actors are only partially rational."

This is important. For the world to be scrutinized, the less standard the
daily routine, the greater the scrutinizing. Hence if the world - the
natural world - imbalances the carrying capacity/ ecological footprints
among individuals.nations - seem to be more irrational in appearance, then
the more likely the greater the scrutiny. This is known as the "paradox of
rationality". The more absurd the events in the world, external and
internal, the more intense the need for common sense and scientific
scrutiny, as this becomes a mode of being concerned about an impetus for
social action. Extending altruism to all life is a form of living out a
hypothesis regarding social action that is understood in two ways:
intersubjectively in the moment through intentionality, and possibly
reflectively as a field of research. Writing or story telling is a field of
research - when it is about ones life or ones mother.


John


"Everyone has adventures."

Roquentin_ La Nausee. Sartre








        



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