Part 1: The Liberal Nation State A Leaky Boat for the Anthropocene?
Drafting the Declaration of Jean Ferris 1863-1930 Independence Jefferson on the right, Franklin on the left, Adams in the center. At Jefferson s lodging at 7 th and (now) Market in Philadelphia. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Liberty Leading the People Delacroix 1830
Locke s Assumptions Natural law expresses the will of God and, as humanity is seen as the pinnacle of Creation, it seeks peace and preservation of all mankind as the divinely mandated supreme duty. Natural rights of men are life, liberty and property, to be respected by all and government authority is necessary to protect individuals from one another. To be legitimate the state must assure safe and peaceful living and the secure enjoyment of property. To secure these rights a social contract is made among equals to create a society, and then between the created society and the ruler. Accordingly, power comes from the people; rulers are fiduciary agents for the common good; laws were rooted in common consent (by majority). There should be restraints on the power of the majority to prevent violation of laws of nature, property rights, and the inalienable rights of men, or anything in the fundamental compact. Function of the state is limited to stated purposes; power is held in trust and should be revoked by the people if the state is not serving its stated purposes.
Rawls A Theory of Justice Two principles of justice in the liberal nation state objects of choice. The original position/veil of ignorance. Duties to other species important; but not considered. Assumes justice applies within the nation. Assumes an empty world (1971)
Four Premises Empty world The sovereign person The natural right of liberty The neutral nation state.
Seven Principal Problems of Political Liberalism Collapse of its entropic enabling conditions: abundant sources/empty sinks. The sovereign person: a myth. Liberty: Meaning in a finite world? The neutral state: A fiction? The sovereign state: A Fraud. Sovereignty a dangerous word? Take some criteria from my Ethics for Eco-
Problem I: Enabling Conditions As William Ophuls points out in A Requiem for Modern Politics in the subsequent evolution into industrial societies, this harvest has turned into a riotous feast on every one of the world s natural systems.[i] It has resulted in (1) extensive settlement of new territory; (2) explosion of human population growth; (3) exponential growth in the (wasteful) use of matter and energy; (4) deliberate destruction of complex natural systems in favor of simplified systems; (5) intense and sometimes bellicose competition; (6) chronic boom and bust cycles; and (7) mass extinctions, possibly including our own. Also extensive moral entropy liberalism`s individualism destroys the community on which it depends. [i] William Ophuls, Requiem for Modern Politics (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997) See especially pages 1-28.
Problem 2: The Sovereign Person SP: (Wikipedia) To be absolute lord of his own person and possessions. Locke The embedded person, DNA, Energy, Monsanto, germs,.. The quantum dimension A systems perspective construction of web of meaning. (Wheeler) Violates the principle of membership in life s commonwealth.
Problem 3: Liberty Should I be able to do what I want (Mill)? Standard answer: yes unless it harms another. Reply: in a finite world harm is inevitable: justice required. Should I be able to think what I want (Locke)? Standard answer: yes if it does not lead to action. Reply: the absence of a common narrative-a cost of tolerance. The severance of state and religion.
Liberty (cont) Liberty and Property discussed next Liberty s dialectical dance with fascism in a finite world/the Anthropocene Problems with human rights: 1) responsibility; 2) the fortress self; 3) persons; and 4) If extended does it emasculate more robust/sacred conceptions? Pacha Mama? Violates house-holding.
Four views of natural resources : Authoritative: Judeo-Christian-Muslim Rationalist: Aristotelian/Cartesian/Kantian L/J Mind in nature. Utilitarianism: Mill, Natural Resource Econ. Special creation. Communitarian: First Nations(relational ontologies), Schweitzer, Leopold, me.
Locke s theory of property Natural rights Ownership of his/her body by each person Labor theory of property Taking from the surplus Enough and as good left for others
God gave the world to man
Man created superior to animals and similar to God
Natural rights Ownership of his/her body by each person
Mixing what we own with nature: the labor theory of property
Natural rights WATER Taking from a surplus
Enough and as good left for others
Property makes it possible to fulfill the obligations of natural law to other people. Money and inequality. North America the land of natural surpluses/waste The transformation of the biosphere digestion? The stewardship (human) feature of conversion.
Implausible Assumptions God gave the world to man as a gift. Ownership of the body The doctrine of special creation Violates membership.`
Some Consequences of Liberty and Property
Thermodynamics and the Golden Rule The 1 st and 2 nd law. Energy and matter are conserved and the earth is closed to matter; and all actions degrade energy Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Why liberty cannot be the foundational value of society.
Losing the Living Planet Source: WWF, UNEP-WCMC
Over Population
Population Crisis
Over Consumption Photo Album by Peter
Climate Crisis
Water Crisis
Desertification Crisis
Problem 4: The Neutral State Societies/states choose moral narrative(s). Society and its technologies not only affect what we do think; but what we can think. When the economy is the main narrative the market manufactures the person. In a Keynesian framework there is a duty to consume. Violates entropic thrift.
Is the Democratic Person Undercut? Democracy is old, mass democracy is new. Locke has in mind that democracy rests on the idea of the deliberative person. But we now know from cognitive neuro-science, etc that this is a construct that is never attained. The passions are always in play/control? While societies can aim to achieve deliberative persons ours is chosing to emphasize the passions. We are undemocratic by design. Can any form of government that appeals to our interests succeed in the Anthropocene? (Jonas)
Problem 5: The Sovereign Nation State The Treaty of Westphalia 1648
The inadequacy of national governments Velocity and scale Failed or failing states Capture Many nations, one world Nickel and diming: growth before environment The devil is in the (boring) details
Why international governance is not working No means to ensure fairness. Growth Über Alles/Democratic states appeal principally to interests. Power imbalances toward the winners of WWII. Little power, less money (UNEP). Free riders: talking but not walking.
Part 7: Liberty and Property in the Stormy Anthropocene The 1 st and 2 nd law. Energy and matter are conserved and the earth is closed to matter; and all actions degrade energy. Golden rule. There are no purely self regarding acts. Liberty is not the basic value of society. The morality of an act depends on the state of the system in which it occurs. There are no unqualified rights to consumption or reproduction.
Reaching for the Ecozoic Changing the human/earth relationship from property to mutually enhancing. (Berry) The elements of an ethic are: membership; house-holding, and thrifty use of what life requires. What is property in the Ecozoic? What is governance?