Pinker also says music is worthless.
On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 11:57 AM, Ham Priday <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Platt -- > > Steven Pinker has written a fascinating article entitled "The Stupidity > > of > > Dignity" that challenges moral arguments preventing life-enhancing > > medical > > experiments in altering minds and bodies. Coming under the heading of > > "bioethics" the article should prove of interest to Pirsigians. > > > > I think Ham will find it especially relevant as Pinker emphasizes the > > principle of individual autonomy, but everyone will find the moral > > issues > > relevant to the MOQ. > > > > An interesting and unusual aspect of morality well reported. Of course I > was sympathetic with the stance of Ruth Macklin, a member of the President's > Council on Human Dignity and Bioethics, which is reported as follows: > > "The general feeling is that, even if a new technology would improve life > and health and decrease suffering and waste, it might have to be rejected, > or even outlawed, if it affronted human dignity. Whatever that is. The > problem is that 'dignity' is a squishy, subjective notion, hardly up to the > heavyweight moral demands assigned to it. The bioethicist Ruth Macklin, who > had been fed up with loose talk about dignity intended to squelch research > and therapy, threw down the gauntlet in a 2003 editorial, 'Dignity Is a > Useless Concept.' Macklin argued that bioethics has done just fine with the > principle of personal autonomy--the idea that, because all humans have the > same minimum capacity to suffer, prosper, reason, and choose, no human has > the right to impinge on the life, body, or freedom of another. This is why > informed consent serves as the bedrock of ethical research and practice, and > it clearly rules out the kinds of abuses that led to the birth of bioethics > in the first place, such as Mengele's sadistic pseudoexperiments in Nazi > Germany and the withholding of treatment to indigent black patients in the > infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. Once you recognize the principle of > autonomy, Macklin argued, 'dignity' adds nothing." > > When a person is making a public speech, we generally regard that as > "dignified" behavior. When the same person is subjected to a rectal exam, > we regard it as an "indignity". Does the meaning of human dignity really > suggest some universal moral principle beyond esthetic sensibility? > > But what particularly interested me was Pinker's assertion that "dignity > has three features that undermine any possibility of using it as a > foundation for bioethics. > First, dignity is relative...second, dignity is fungible...third, dignity > can be harmful." > I would contend that the same could be said of Morality--especially when > it is forced on society in order to make behavior conform to some > authoritative system. > > Pinker concludes ... > "A free society disempowers the state from enforcing a conception of > dignity on its citizens. Democratic governments allow satirists to poke fun > at their leaders, institutions, and social mores. And they abjure any > mandate to define 'some vision of 'the good life' or the 'dignity of using > [freedom] well' (two quotes from the Council's volume). The price of > freedom is tolerating behavior by others that may be undignified by our own > lights. I would be happy if Britney Spears and "American Idol" would go > away, but I put up with them in return for not having to worry about being > arrested by the ice-cream police. This trade-off is very much in America's > DNA and is one of its great contributions to civilization: my country 'tis > of thee, sweet land of liberty." > > I say, more power to Pinker! > > Thanks, Platt. > > --Ham > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
