Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 21:32:18 +0800
Subject: Re: PKF: Slide time


I've thought about the relativism issue a little more over the past few
days, and have enjoyed the messages enormously. I particularly liked
Terry's very well-informed take on the whole issue.

I guess that when I say it all comes down to values, that might come
across as a sort of mushy 'niceness' that doesn't allow one to make any
judgements of the practices or beliefs of others (eg genital mutilation,
or any others). I don't think that's the case. Although moving away from
absolutism means we'll have to be much more critically reflective on our
own stances vis-a-vis the positions of others (Bill Clinton, lecturing
the Chinese on human rights while the jails and death rows of the US are
disproportionately full of blacks and Hispanics, could benefit from a
little of this!), it doesn't make it impossible for us to impose a
value: that, too, is a value judgement. The question becomes "Do I value
more highly the genital mutilator's cultural values and freedom, or do I
value more highly the rights to avoid mutilation of the potential
victim?" And, having decided that "Do I value this highly enough to
overcome the low value I place on coercion?" In other words, our actions
and inactions arise out of our values. This should not paralyse us...

Regards,

David

PS And of course, deciding that a perspective is 'arbitrary, capricious
and inconsistent' is itself a value judgement - in some cultures,
consistency is itself not accorded a high value. In other words, logical
forms like Occam's Razor are statements of value positions, not inherent
parts of the universe.

-- 
David R. Geelan, Science & Maths Education Centre, Curtin University
GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6107. Ph: +618 9266 3594 Fax: +618 9266 2503
Home Page: http://alpha7.curtin.edu.au/~pgeelandr/bravus.htm
Perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18
**********************************************************************
Contributions: mailto:feyerabend-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Commands: mailto:majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Requests: mailto:feyerabend-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu