Ethics

Ethics, by Louis Pojman, is a textbook on ethics that I read simply because I found a photocopy at home, which was borrowed by my wife from her friend's sister. It probably had a profound effect on her intellectual development since it kindled her interest in philosophy, which she eventually studied as her undergraduate degree.

I tend to agree with Pojman's moral objectivist stance. I see moral relativism, especially subjectivism, as a nihilist, not to mention selfish, intellectual dead end. I may even be an intuitionist to some degree as I think that some acts are, on their face value and even without recourse to reason, so morally repugnant that no decent person would even attempt to argue on the grounds of cultural relativism, e.g. torturing children.

Virtue based ethics, as expounded in the works of Plato and Aristotle, also appeals to me. Morality springs forth from a morally excellent character. The emphasis on personal moral development in the context of a moral community is richer and more natural than an individualist and minimalist morality that focuses on sanctions and prohibitions. It is in relation to this thought that I think of how religion fits quite naturally with morality and why secular morality sometimes feels empty and groundless.

A Map of the World

I read this book by Jane Hamilton just because my wife had a copy and I thought it would be a waste not to read it.

It is the story of a couple in the Midwest, living on a farm, whose seemingly ordinary struggle to create a dream family life is totally upended by the accidental death of a neighbor's child. It captures what goes on in the mind of a mother trying mightily to be a good mother and a supportive wife suddenly facing charges of sexual abuse and months of being separated from her family. It also describes the despairing thoughts of a husband whose simple family life suddenly falls apart and who suddenly has to abandon his simple dream of being a dairy farmer.

As a young father of two, I can sympathize with the feeling of how everything is so fragile. The smallest mistake might endanger my family, cause a health problem, ruin our finances, and wreck the dream life we are building. Having a family is immensely rewarding but it also makes the possibility of loss that much more terrifying.

Reflections on Sociology and Philippine Society

Randy David is one the few genuine Filipino public intellectuals. His training is in sociology, but he employs philosophy in his writings with facility, and his political analysis is more incisive than those of my political science professors. His columns are models of clarity and they are suffused by David's abiding love for his country.

In this book of essays, I perceive David's intellectual evolution from a Marxist given to interpreting society through class analysis to more of a pragmatist, focusing more on what institutions work in a society moving from tradition to modernity. David, like other observers, writes about the many failures of Philippine society, but, unlike them, he also sees a lot of hope. He views the experiences of OFWs in better-run societies and the expectations of a new generation of Filipinos exposed to the Internet as contributing to the creation of a political culture that will allow Philippine politics to become less personalistic, and more programmatic, i.e., more modern.

Perhaps he is right about changing mindsets. But the time has come for the Filipino youth to stop simply admiring Obama's success and start acting to make a similar brand of hopeful, transformational politics a reality in the Philippines.

A Dream Fulfilled

I began reading Uncle Tom's Cabin a few days before the historic election of Barack Obama.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's work, which some regard as a significant spark to the Civil War, is unsparing in its description of the horrors of slavery. One cannot help but be moved by depictions of families being separated and slaves being maltreated. It's hard to imagine today, but less than 150 years ago, real people with real emotions were treated like unfeeling articles to be bought and sold. I sometimes thought that the book had too many Christian references and passages, but who could blame slaves for pining their hopes in the afterlife if the world they lived in offered nothing but a future of suffering?

America has once more reinvented itself. Not only can the descendants of slaves hope for a better future in their present life, they can even lead the nation that once enslaved them.

Political Man

Political Man, by Seymour Martin Lipset, is one of the best works of political analysis I have read. It is clear, incisive and sophisticated without resorting to methodological techniques that obscure, rather than illuminate the argument. It is brimming with detail, providing the historical, psychological and organizational context that make the work read like a description of flesh and blood citizens engaged in political action, rather than the dry, impersonal, almost clinical analysis of data that characterizes most published journal articles.

Lipset is upfront about his commitment to democracy and the book is a theory of the social bases of democracy. He does not hesitate to make bold generalizations, which he always backs up with carefully documented comparative data, usually presented in a simple tabular, but unmistakably clear, format. Economic development and democracy are correlated and mutually reinforcing is one of the few political science theses that has stood the test of time. Working class people are more likely to have authoritarian attitudes. Fascism is middle class extremism and is different from old-fashioned conservatism. Trade unions tend to be organized as dictatorships, but contribute to the democracy of the social system. It is a true social science classic. A simple replication of its analyses for the Philippines is likely to increase understanding immensely. The brave analyst, however, will be looking in vain for the class bases of political parties in a country were true political parties do not exist.

Faustian Spirit

Faust, like men my age, is impatient and restless. He has mastered all the major branches of knowledge and is not in any state of material want, yet he feels an insatiable thirst, a "boundless striving" for knowledge and power - the Faustian spirit. In a quest for the supreme moment of happiness so beautiful that he will wish for time to stop, he bets his soul with Mephistopheles in exchange for supernatural powers while on earth. The Faustian spirit, however, is ultimately doomed to failure. Indeed, he lives to a hundred years and dies without finding that moment of inner peace, and is, therefore, ultimately saved.

Does Goethe imply that man is condemned never to be happy and to always feel discontented? And is the lack of satisfaction the path to salvation?

In the Faustian spirit, I see what are likely to be the roots of Nietzsche's self-conquering overman. A perfect moment is perhaps an impossible dream, but that is as it should be for that is the end of the will to power; that is the end of the will to life.

Liberal Society in the Age of Experts

We live in a society, Stephen Turner observes in Liberalism 3.0, that is dominated by experts. This, he argues, undermines the idea of liberalism defined as government by discussion because the ordinary citizen cannot understand the expert, let alone presume to debate with him.

While I understand the dangers to political communication raised by Turner, I do not share the same level of concern with the viability of liberalism. The rise of the knowledge society has allowed experts to increase their standing, but the accompanying technological change - the information technology revolution - has also meant that it is that much harder to monopolize expertise. Indeed, in the age of Google, Wikipedia, and the home-made bomb assembled through downloaded instructions, it is much harder to delegate authority completely to the presumed sound judgment of the experts. Moreover, it is usually the case that one can find an expert willing to support one's preferred policy option.

In determining policy, it is more important to have informed judgment based on a combination of experience, intuition, strategic perspective, a sense of history, and sufficient but not exhaustive data rather than narrow expertise on a particular subject.

In the age of experts, we can't just leave it to the experts because it begs the question, "Which expert?"