In Stephen Pinker's recent book on the remarkable decline of violence, "The Better Angels of our Nature", he makes a similar observation about the role of merchants, that they necessarily must practice empathy with respect to an ever-widening circle of people who go far beyond the emhathy one more easily feels for close kin. The merchant needs to practice the skill of "being inside another's skin" and understanding the Other. Pinker points out that we rarely give merchants and commerce the acknowledgement due their expansion of empathy.
Bruce On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:14 AM, glen <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm not so sure that it is irrelevant. I tend to view the merchant, who > just wants to do business and doesn't care about your other social > positions, as the very foundation of social liberalism. The best way to > maintain a speaking relationship with someone you otherwise might hate > is to continue doing business with them. That "bottom line" is very > similar to the realists' ultimate Truth and provides a horizon for a > continual moral compass. > > Ultimately, the ability to "make a buck" is a compression of all the > other things that keep us alive ... food, shelter, procreation, etc. > When doctrinal delusions like promises of 72 virgins, our own planets, > or Star Trek social equality interfere with our ability to "make a buck" > ... well _that's_ when all hell breaks loose and we riot in the streets. > > Financial liberalism is the _trunk_ and social liberalism is the leaves. > > -- > glen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
