FROM THE ARCHIVES
[ home | archives | e-mail ]
Rights and integrity
[Bruce Frohnen 03/03 01:14 PM]Several people have noted how easy it is to make fun of crunchy choices, in large measure as a set of snobbish lifestyle decisions masquerading as a philosophy of life. Perhaps one of the reasons is this: liberal society emphasizes how many rights we all have, as individual people. Within the liberal mindset this presents us with two choices, extend those rights to animals, the earth, etc., or emphasize the distinction between the person and things. As with everything else, liberalism gives us only an "either-or" choice. I once jokingly asked an important philosopher (Kenneth Schmitz) whether rocks have rights. His response is, I think, important: "no, but even a rock has integrity." Every part of God's creation has an integrity — it has a natural purpose, a natural way in which its existence should be recognized and used. Using puppies for target practice is wrong, even for those of us who don't believe animals have rights, because puppies are not for target practice, but for play, or hunting, or one of a finite number of proper ends.
The same logic applies to all kinds of creatures and things that get sold and consumed. And the point is that how we use these lesser things both says something about us and affects us by influencing our attitudes and habits of life. Why not torture "mere" puppies in our spare time, if we get utility out of it ("fun" or leisure-time enjoyment)? Not just because it's creepy, but because it develops in us the character of a torturer. Merely transferring such personal moral choices to "the market" does not, or should not, empty them of moral importance.
Given all the moral enormities being committed all over the world, one should not demand perfection in lesser things; bringing up good kids comes first. But to the extent one can, consumption, it seems to me, should be seen as one of the ways in which we all use things, and should use them in a manner that shows respect for God's creation and the inherent integrity, not just of creatures and things, but of the people involved in their "processing" and the people THOSE people deal with on a regular basis.
Simply put, we should try to be a part of virtuous communities involved in producing food, clothing, and shelter, as well as in our own faith, work and play, and the schooling of our children.
Such an integrated view of life is easy to ridicule, and impossible to put fully into practice (particularly if one believes in original sin), but perfect markets don't exist either, so what?
|
