Right on, Bryan!!!

Ray
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Eugen Quinn" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2000 5:17 PM
Subject: Re: Environmental education and PP, was Re: Fwd: Nowadays we
idolizenature


>     I appreciate Lars Ekman's commentary. Very utilitarian. Plato's noble
lie is
> indeed a tough thing to get out into the open. From this viewpoint, the
problem
> isn't the lies in politics, it is when the lies are found out by the
public and
> the leadership overthrown. No?
>     However, I think that politics and morality are not so different.
Morality
> (though not ethics) is the popular code or belief system that a society
agrees
> to and dictates what is to be discouraged and encouraged. Ethics is a
different
> matter, though many often confuse the two.
>     Politics, in a sense, seems related to morality and morality seems
related
> to politics. Both involve popular agreement. While politics focuses on the
> relationships between social units, morality seeks to guide those units
based on
> past agreement (perhaps past political agreement).
>     As for the continued discussion on global warming on this discussion
list, I
> find it strange that we concentrate so much on one environmental issue.
Perhaps
> it is predicable that philosophers (be they arm chair or proffesional)
focus on
> the largest, most vague environmental issue. It is as universal an issue
as
> possible on a planet such as ours and we should be leary of the great
> generalizations made by our most touted white, male, western philosophers.
>     So much time is spent on this list dedicated towards justifying
arguments
> with different scientific reports about global warming. I do not propose
to
> ignore global warming, but why do we not focus more on things we know to
be
> certain, such as beef consumption in Amercia, logging U.S. national
forests, or
> First Nations land and sea rights? Just a suggestion. peace, Bryan
>
> Lars Ekman wrote:
>
> > > Would this qualify as fear mongering or just plain lying?
> >
> > Why care? Truth and scientific honesty obviously has no positive
intrinsic
> > value. Politics and morality are two different things. If we can further
a
> > moral cause through lying in the political arena, I fail to see why this
> > would be so obviously wrong. If we somehow could end all environmental
> > destruction through lying about the magnitude of these problems just
enough
> > for people to get off their asses and do something about it, I see no
reason
> > not to lie.
> >
> > /Lars
>




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