From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Mon Mar 29 2004 - 07:32:12 BST
Dear Matt K.,
I'm feel like I'm playing at too much chessboards at the same time. I still
owe you a reply to your 17 Mar 2004 16:25:40 -0600 posting.
You wrote:
'You think that the problem with our current situation is with our political
vocabulary'
No, the Enlightenment political vocabulary is not that bad. It's just not
enough to prevent cruelty and stripmining. The problem I see is with
excluding from the Senate floor (from public debate) philosophic and
religious vocabularies that add (whatever) meaning to the earth and to
fellow people beyond 'means to our ends'. You're right that the meanings
they give to things differ too much to expect agreement from letting them
meet in public.
You wrote:
'A secular political vocabulary doesn't drain us of meaning. What the
partition between [the] two [types of] vocabularies means is that we needn't
drag along the first part of our vocabulary (where we might find some sort
of meaning) into the second half.'
But not allowing them in public (politics) makes it much harder for them to
survive. Just 'speaking them at home' is not enough. That's why people drop
them and are only left with negotiating about short-term self-interests.
Vocabularies need public use to survive.
Yes, 'we can easily construct our desire to save the rainforest and the
Third World in secular terms', as you wrote, but the Enlightenment political
vocabulary in itself doesn't motivate us to do so. We need other
vocabularies to inspire us before we can translate the outcomes into a
vocabulary we share.
I think we should allow other (than Enlightenment) vocabularies on the
Senate floor without expecting agreement on them, enabling them to survive,
AND come to agreement in the Enlightenment vocabulary at the same time.
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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