Greetings Platt and all,
I've been holding off from contributing to this thread as, although it's
been fascinating, my own views have been shifting, and (somewhat to my
surprise) I find myself more and more persuaded by Platt's point of view. As
this is at least partially counter to the first of my four theses, I thought
it might be interesting to explain why.
A thesis (1a if you like) - the terrorists have chosen a biological-level
method of seeking change to the present geo-political situation. As such
they count as 'germs' in the sense described by Pirsig and quoted by Platt,
and need to be rooted out as efficiently as possible. (NB I still think
there are intellectual aspects to the underlying problems that need to be
addressed; what I've posted on that still stands).
I think we do need to think about methods, not just motivations. If we think
about conflicts in the different levels then there are certain modes which
are appropriate at each level. For example, if there is intellectual
conflict then the appropriate method of resolving that conflict would
involve, amongst other things, critical reviews in journals, analysis of the
logic of particular arguments or the validity of certain proofs, empirical
investigation of relevant phenomena, conceptual investigation and
alternative theorisation etc etc. All of which might be done on paper.
Within the social sphere there are also certain methods of pursuing
conflict - generally called politics. Within democracies there are all the
tactics and strategies that we are familiar with, but even within more or
less totalitarian systems there are various modes of opposition. I've always
admired the way that Gandhi, for example, was scrupulous in upholding the
necessity for the rule of law, even when he was breaking particular laws
that he objected to. He clearly taught that it was right for him to be
imprisoned for breaking a particular law, as that upheld the overall rule of
law (and the social-level values associated with that) - he rightly saw that
the absence of accepted laws led to a significantly worse situation for
everyone.
At the biological level the methods of pursuing conflict are
straightforward - might and cunning; I don't think much needs to be said on
this point.
At each level, therefore, the mode of conflict reflects the nature of the
antagonism. If intellectual change is sought, then intellectual methods are
chosen; if social, then social levels etc. Now this is of course very broad
brush, and I think there might be scope for supplementing eg intellectual
change with social pressure as well. But it does seem clear that the choice
of conflict which bin Laden has made is primarily biological - the
destruction of life and property. Clearly there are symbolic (and therefore
social) components to the attack, but to my mind the great weight of the
attack lies in its biological effects (the social consequences flow from the
scale of the biological effect, ie the thousands of lives lost). Bin Laden
is therefore acting as a primarily biological threat to the rule of law. At
which point, as Platt puts it:
"when someone in a conflict pulls out a gun, the dark side
of biology asserts itself and all bets are off. Once more, as Pirsig
writes:
"Where biological values are undermining social values, intellectuals
must identify social behavior, no matter what its ethnic connection, and
support it all the way without restraint. Intellectuals must find biological
behavior, no matter what its ethnic connection, and limit or destroy
destructive biological patterns with complete moral ruthlessness, the
way a doctor destroys germs, before those biological patterns destroy
civilization itself."
Let us never be lured by the siren song of pacifism. The conversation
between social [and] criminal-biological patterns is a policeman or soldier
with his gun."
(Platt's post of 9/30/01)
Or, to put it in the terms I'm using in this post, when someone chooses to
try and change social or intellectual patterns using the methods of
biological conflict, they must be opposed at that level with all the
resources that society and intellect can provide - on pain of that society
and intellect collapsing into the law of the jungle. Social and intellectual
patterns can be changed through social and intellectual methods - to choose
otherwise is to choose the status of a germ.
Sam
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