Dear Timothy,

Many thanks for this.
I agree with your view that we live in an 'era where man seems to have no stable basis of reality'

You write that we are animals  ' with only two concrete purposes: one, to pass on their genes; and two, to maintain their lives on a day-to-day basis'.
In my view we have a third very important purpose - to develop our humanity.

Best wishes,

Jim.

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for the Crisis Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Timothy Horgan
Sent: 15 September 2014 01:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: New ideas regarding zero growth economics

To the members of the Crisis Forum,

I feel very happy to have come across this forum.

I should say that for just over a year now, I have been writing an original work of philosophy, with an aim to finding a stable basis of reality. From this basis I construct arguments and find solutions. To quote a passage from the ‘About Us’ section of the Crisis Forum website, ‘in order to act, one has to have good reasoning, sound information and clear foresight’.

We live in what philosophers will dominantly refer to as the post-modern era, the era where man seems to have no stable basis of reality. In these times, arguments fly around in chaos, all because they don’t relate back to a solid frame of reference.

The frame of reference I propose is simple. It relates to the fact that human beings are animals living in a Darwinian mode of existence, with only two concrete purposes: one, to pass on their genes; and two, to maintain their lives on a day-to-day basis.

In my essay, From Economic Growth to Economic Maintenance, I relate issues of impending environmental disaster back to the reality of our material mode of existence. Like it says in Crisis Forum’s ‘About Us’ section, ‘there is a high probability that unless we drastically change our global political and economic practice, the human species may not survive into the foreseeable future’.

My work draws heavily from this basis of reality, so heavily in fact that it aims to challenge the thoughts on post-modernity itself (look to http://onandoffthegringotrail.com/the-book/ for more information on this). In From Economic Growth to Economic Maintenance, I use this base to explore the major themes of the past seventy years: man’s singular focus on economic growth; man’s will to maximise his consumption; existentialism in the era of post-modernity; looming environmental catastrophe. I argue that if man had trouble finding meaning in the last seventy years, now he has given himself cause for very real purpose. His insatiable hunger for development and consumption has partly led to the threat of resource exhaustion and environmental disaster, and as such he finds himself forced by the hand of nature to pursue an agenda of economic maintenance. 

You say that the Crisis Forum aims to ‘[break] down the barriers between academic disciplines through the development of wide-ranging but nevertheless specific research projects which address the “big” issues.’ My essay can be thought of as such a project. 

You also say that ‘[v]ery often the assumption is that the boffins can find some technical or managerial fix enabling the “system” to run a little more “efficiently”, “profitably” or “cleanly”. [The Forum argues] that this can hold no longer as a sound basis for action given the multi-faceted nature of the problem of global crisis.’ I argue myself that the ‘system’ isn’t just in need of some technical or managerial fix, but that its problems can be thought of as systemic in nature. My essay reflects this, as does my greater work, my book. The book’s central abstract (I have already provided a link above) implies the systemic nature of the problems at hand.

I suppose what I am ultimately trying to get at is the fact that I have engaged this analysis at a more fundamental level. In the Crisis Forum’s project on climate change and public opinion, it is said that the project’s secondary aim ‘is to assess how one might improve public understanding of climate change and associated threats to society, and thereby encourage wider public participation in drawing up societal responses to climate change’. So it is, I have dug up new arguments to market the relevancy and importance of many contemporary issues.

If you would like to have a look at From Economic Growth to Economic Maintenance, you can email me on the address provided below. More information can be found on my website, ‘onandoffthegringotrail.com’. I have much to say, many arguments and many ideas for change, and I look forward to starting some good discussion on the forum. 

Thanks and regards,

Tim Horgan 
onandoffthegringotrail.com			
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