Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 109 No. 5 21.50 June 2004
The Fenner Brockway statue, Red Lion Square, Holborn, (adjacent to Conway Hall) on 22 May 2004, on the 50th Anniversary of Liberation, formerly the Movement for Colonial Freedom, founded by Fenner Brockway.
(/ to r) Don Liversedge (SPES Hon Rep), Barbara Smoker (whose Guardian letter elicited the funds to repair the statue after the storm damage), Stan Newens (ex MEP), the statue;c sculptor Ian Walters, Jeremy Corbyn MP Tony Bent:.
DURKHEIM: ACHIEVING MORAL CONSENSUS Tom Rabens 3 DR. YOUNUS SHAIKH FREE! IHEU 10 I. D. MACKILLOP (1939-2004.) Jennifer Jeynes 10 DO GIFTED CHILDREN NEED SPECIAL PROVISION? Lorraine Foreman-Peck 11 NEWS FROM THE AMERICAS Ellen Ramsay 15 SCIENCE IN THE CITY - WALK .Michael Howgate 16 VICTOR HUGO & SCIENCE Valerie M. Henderson 19 BOOK REVIEW: THE ROOTS OF HATE Gerald Vinten 21 VIEWPOINTS Dr John Edmondson, Randolph Atkins 22 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 24 SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WC I R 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8034 Fax: 020 7242 8036 Website: www.ethicalsoc.org.uk [email protected] Officers Chairman of the GC: Terry Mullins. Hon. Representativeof the GC: Don Liversedge. Vice Chairman: John Rayner. Registrar: Edmund McArthur. Editor, Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac SPES Staff Administrative Secretag to the Society: Marina Ingham Tel: 020 7242 8034 Librarian/Progranune Coordinator: Jennifer Jeynes M.Sc. Tel: 020 7242 8037 Hall Manager: Peter Vlachos MA. For Hall bookings: Tel: 020 7242 8032 Caretakers: Eva Auhrechtova, Shaip Bullaku, David Wright Tel: 020 7242 8033 AdministrativelClerical Staff. Carina Kelsey, Victoria Le Fevre, Nanu Patel
SPES TRIP: TO THETFORD FOR THOMAS PAINE DAY SATURDAY 3 JULY 2004 Readings & Floral Tribute laying at the TP Statue. Guided walk round Thetford highlighting Paine Associations. Thlk/debate at the Carnegie Room Leaving Red Lion Square promptly at 0930, returning approx. 2000h Tel. admin 020 7242 8034 to reserve seats (115) in A/c Luxury Coach
75th ANNIVERSARY OF CONWAY HALL * CELEBRATION * * * * *
Thursday 23 September 2004 ALL MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE A PERSONAL INVITATION
SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Rea. Charity No. 251396 Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are: the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism, thc cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in relevant fields.
We invite to membership those who reject supernatural creeds and are in sympathy with our aims. At Conway Hall the programme includes Sunday lectures, discussions, evening courses and the renowned South Place Sunday Concerts of chamber music. The Society maintains a Humanist Reference Library. The Society's journal, Ethical Record, is issued tcn times a year. Funerals and Memorial meetings may be arranged. The annual subscription is 18 (112 if a full-time student, unwaged or over 65).
Ethical Rmwrd, June, 2004 EMILE DURKHEIM: ACHIEVING MORAL CONSENSUS IN MODERN SOCIETY Lecture to the Ethical Society, 18 April 2004 Tom Rubens
Emile Durkheim (1858--1917) is one of a number of distinguished French sociologists of the last 200 years; among others are Montesquieu. Comte and Tocqueville. This talk will consist of a--necessarily brief--exposition of his main ideas on the subject of moral consensus. In a short, final section of the talk, I will attempt some commentary, in connection with certain personal views I will advance on the recent and present state of British society ( as an example of the modern Western type of collectivity about which Durkheim wrote.) Also, exposition of Durkheim's view will be given in the past tense, whereas what I regard as incontrovertibly or arguably fact will be stated in the present tense.
Societies: From Mechanical To Organic For Durkheim, the achievement of moral consensus was a key issue. Consensus is of course vital for all societies, but, as Durkheim argued, especially so in the modern Western context. This was the case because modern society had a form of solidarity which was organic, as distinct from mechanical. Organic solidarity was a kind which achieved unity and harmony through differentiation, diversity, and the extensive development of individuality. By contrast, mechanical solidarity rested not on difference but on resemblance: its unity depended on individuals closely resembling one another, and sharing, almost entirely, the same general outlook. (This distinction, incidentally, recalls Popper's between open and closed societies. It's worth noting that Durkheim's precedes Popper's.)
Durkheim chose the term 'organic' with a biological analogy in mind. Organic social solidarity worked in the way an animal body does: different organs perform different functions to maintain an overall, co-ordinated metabolism. He added that mechanical solidarity was characteristic of what sociologists call archaic societies--those without writing--while organic solidarity, as said, characterised modern Western society. Historically, the mechanical came first, and the organic arose with the disintegration of the former.
However, in all societies, the organic no less than the mechanical, there existed a collective consciousness of some kind. While there was a contrast in the degree to which the collective outlook influenced that of the individual in mechanical and organic societies, nevertheless the person in the organic context was, in considerable measure, tied to the social whole. Though, in mechanical solidarity, the collective mind filled the major part of the individual's perspective, whereas in organic solidarity it occupied much less space. still the person in the organic context was required to adhere to a number of collective norms, albeit far fewer than in the mechanical context. This was the case in spite of the differentiation between individuals which Durkheim saw as the defining feature of organic solidarity; and despite the fact that, under organic conditions, the individual was to a large extent free to believe, desire and act according to his / her own preferences.
For Durkheim, the individual was always inseparable from the group; s/he was in fact born of society, and not society of individuals. By this, Durkheim meant that society formed the single individual, and was not formed by single individuals. The social whole was always greater than its parts, with a character distinct from Ethical Record, June, 2004 3 the characters of its individual members. Accordingly, the whole explained the parts, and not the converse. Social facts were accounted for by other social facts, and not by facts of individual pyschology. In order to understand the status of the individual in society, one had to examine the collectivity which made that status possible. (This subordination of part to whole echoes Hegel's social philosophy.)
To illustrate his thesis, Durkheim pointed out that, in modern society, differentiation between individuals goes hand in hand with an extensive division of labour. He argued that such diversity was partly the result of the division of labour, but mainly the cause of it, since the whole idea of extensive division of work would have been inconceivable in a society which did not already possess a highly developed sense of individuality, and was not, therefore, already organic in character. Hence the emergence of a widespread variegation of labour reflected an already-existing organic solidarity, though dne that would develop further. Hence also, the division of labour extended differentiation but did not create it.
In order to comprehend the role that contracts play in modern society, we had to understand that contractual practice between individuals or small groups was itself made possible by the overall structure of their society. This was a structure shaped by a collective consciousness which had a particular sense of right and wrong, justice and injustice, and which had formulated a legal system sanctioning contracts. The collective consciousness was, again, of the organic type, allowing individuals to do things, such as drawing up contracts, which they would not have been allowed to do had the collectivity been mechanical. Thus the practice of particular individuals was enabled by conditions which the individuals themselves did not create. (All this runs counter to some traditional liberal schools of social thought, especially those connected with social-contract theory.)
Anomie - Lack Of Cohesion Thus for Durkheim there were three main points to note about modern organic society:- 1) It was highly differentiated; a fact which was its defining feature. 2) This differentiation was nevertheless the expression of a collective outlook which sanctioned individuality. 3) Because the collective outlook was the condition for individualism, the latter could never be absolute, if society was to hold together. The collectivity placed necessary limits on the sphere of individual conduct; it imposed responsibilities and prohibitions, in addition to granting extensive freedoms. Further, it transmitted a moral and cultural heritage which occupied a significant part of the individual mentality, no matter how distinctive the latter might be.
Organic society, then, tempered individualism by possessing a number of beliefs, feelings and values which were common to all its members. Or--at least-- such was the case when society was in a healthy condition, with a balanced relationship between the individual and the group. But unfortunately this balance did not always obtain. It broke down when the individual demanded more of society than the latter could give, and when the ties binding the individual to the group were too weak. This lack of cohesion was defined by Durkheim as anomie: absence of regulative norms. The psychological consequences of anomie could be profound, including the kind of suicide which Durkheim describes as anomic.
In such conditions - and for Durkheim they were always potential, where not actual, in modern society - the question arose: How can the individual be
4 Ethical Record, June, 2004 sufficiently integrated into the whole? In seeking an answer, Durkheim considered the institutions of the family, the state and the religious group. All three he rejected as inadequate. The family unit was in decline in modern society, in terms of both its moral and economic influence on the individual. The state, or rather the political machinery of the state, was simply too remote from most individuals. The religious group was also-jnsufficient: it no longer exercised the degree of moral discipline over its memb'..rs that it once had done. Also, religious doctrines were wilting under the attack from science; and Durkheim regarded science as the only valid form of ontological thinking. This view of science will be, for secularists, non - contraversial. However. Durkheim goes on to make a highly controversial claim: that science can itself provide moral guidance.
The Individual Needs 'The Corporation' Durkheim concluded that the only group which could adequately integrate the individual was the professional organisation: what he called the 'corporation'. Corporations, in the form he envisaged, would include employers and employees. They would be close enough to the individual - in terms of work - to provide a school of discipline, and far enough above him/her to enjoy (as employer) prestige and authority. More will be said later on this subject.
The urgency with which Durkheim pursued his solution to the problem of integration reflects his larger view that some form of fundamental commitment to society had to replace previous commitments to religion. Such commitment was a moral necessity; and it was - in the modern scientific era - the natural metamorphosis of its religious predecessors. Science, specifically anthropology and sociology, had shown that the religious impulse was at bottom a social impulse, that religions had an essentially social nature, served social needs, and that "Religious interests are merely the symbolic expression of social and moral . interests." a ( See Feuerbach and Santayana, among others, for identical views.) In attaching himself to those interests, the individual experienced a sense of transcendence, of being part of something greater than himself. This 'something greater' was a natural phenomenon - human society in all its complexity - and hot anything supernatural. The individual's feeling of allegiance to the human collective was the naturalistic and wholly justifiable successor to the supernaturalistic notion of transcendence, which was now totally outmoded. Duty to society would come to be seen as something sacred, and as completely separate from the profane and banal routines involved in the narrow pursuit of self-interest and merely egocentric goals.
(However, a key question is raised by this view: Was Durkheim talking in real or ideal terms when he spoke of society's warranting a sacred sense of commitments? Did he mean society as it was or is, or society as it might or should be? Societies thus far have always left a great deal to be desired, and therefore have not deserved the reverence which Durkheim advocated. Was he then speaking in ideal terms? This is a question to which his writings provide no clear answer.)
Duty to society, Durkheim went on to stress, was a matter of consensus. (In the emphasis he placed on this terms, he echoes Comte.) Consensus was in turn a matter of socialisation: the integration and moralisation of the individual. In insisting on the primary importance of these processes, Durkheim saw himself as a 'socialist', but a socialist of an unusual stamp. integrationism' is perhaps a better word for the kind of socialism he espoused. This is definitely not the socialism of
Ethical Record, June, 2004 5 Marx, and for three reasons. Firstly, Durkheim did not favour violence as a means of achieving social change. Secondly, he did not regard class-struggle as an essential element in modern society, or as the impetus of the movement of history. Lastly, he saw the social problem as moral more than economic; in other words, it would not be solved merely by economic measures. For Durkheim, conflicts of a class and economic nature, while undeniably real, were themselves symptoms of a deeper problem: that of a fundamental loss of harmony and mutuality in social relations, a state of anomie. It was this that needed to be put right before other, more technical programmes of action could be fruitfully undertaken. What first had to be attained was a more intelligent and humane organisation of collective life, one which integrated individuals within communities that were invested with moral authority, and that fulfilled an educational role.
Durkheim: Moral Integration The Primary Need Durkheim saw socialist doctrines of the more conventional type as missing the essential point about the primary need for moral integration. He argued that conventional modern socialism, as distinct from the communistic doctrines which have existed throughout history, regarded economic activity and productivity as fundamental. It sought, not the simple and frugal life-style associated with traditional communism, but material abundance and the full development of productive capacities. Yet this abundance, Durkheim added, was not in itself a guarantor of social harmony: it might, in fact, lead to conflict, by failing to appease the economic appetites it aroused in individuals. (In his grasp of the problem of unbridled individual drives, Durkheim recalls Hobbes). Harmony could only come from a sphere external and prior to the economic: the sphere, as said, of moral and educational frameworks.
Durkheim alleged that conventional socialism failed to recognise the importance of this non-economic sphere, and that this basic error led to what he called the anarchic tendencies of socialist doctrine. He insisted that economic functions needed to be subjected to an over-arching authority that was both moral and political. His view was that, before the emergence of modern industrial society, economic functions had been subordinated to supra-economic powers, and that a modern equivalent to these powers had to be constructed. (We might ask: are these criticisms of socialism fair? Are socialists preoccupied with economics, and neglectful of extra-economic, moral, cultural and political considerations? Many would reply that the neglect lies not with them but with laissez faire capitalism at its worst.)
Durkheim's concern with the extra-economic brings us back to what was said earlier about the role he wished to assign to professional organisations or 'corporations'. The latter would possess the social and moral authority requisite for exerting control over economic life, and for preventing individuals from yielding to the infinity of their desires. Further, they would serve as intermediaries between the individual and the state. Like Tocqueville, Durkheim saw a major danger in the growth of state power on the one hand, and the increasing political isolation of the individual on the other. He viewed the modern state as too remote from the individual to be an agency of social integration.
Additional to Durkheim's focus on professional organisations was his concern for democracy. This is clearly evident in his afore-mentioned fear about the growth of
6 Ethical Record, June, 2004 state power. He saw democracy less in terms of political mechanisms than of states of mind. Here, we return to the subject of the collective consciousness, with which the individual consciousness was imbued. Durkheim writes: A nation is more democratic to the extent that deliberation, reflection and the critical spirit play a more important role in the progress of public affairs. It is less democratic to the extent that ignorance, unacknowledged habits, obscure feelings--in short, unexamined prejudices--are preponderant In other words, democracy is not a discovery or rediscovery of our century; it is the character increasingly assumed by societies....its rise has been continuous from the beginning of history. h
By implication, the development of a democratic collective mind is co- extensive with the development of science. Moreover for Durkheim, this type of consciousness played three key roles:- First, it underpinned the political order which he deemed indsipensable to society. Next, as a consequence of this, it enlarged genuine communication between the body-politic and the population as a whole. Thirdly, as in turn a consequence of this, it strenghtened the individual's sense of belonging to a particular kind of community : in effect, an open society. (Again, echoes of Popper.)
This latter point returns us to the central issue of the individual and the group. The combination in democracy of order and freedom involved for Durkheim the principle that the individual should willingly submit to control or discipline as a pre-condition for his and everyone else's personal development. Limits had to be set to each individual sphere so that all individual spheres could have space to develop. The above argument clearly connects with the basic Durkheimian tenet that the social is always prior to the individual. Regarding individual freedom specifically, this was a social product: "liberty has become a reality only in and through society".'
The Final Then In Social Evolution Insistence on the anteriority of the group to the individual did not, however, lead Durkheim to an under-valuing of the latter. He prized social discipline partly as a means of maximising individual development. Further, throughout his work, he viewed differentiation as a fortunate and desirable development in human history. Increasing range of occupation, life-style, cultural orientation, initiative, self- accountability and rationality: all were seen as healthy phenomena. In fact, Durkheim regarded individualist, rationalist, liberal thought as the final term in man's social and historical evolution. In this respect, he presented a kind of 'end of intellectual history' scenario, delineating a stage beyond which humanity could not and need not go. This stage was ultimate because, among other things, it maximised opportunity for scientific and critical activity. His conception of a final intellectual condition for mankind is of course not to be confused with the possession of a final ontological perspective. It is simply the condition of complete intellectual openness. As such, it is surely one which all secularists and liberal- rationalists will endorse.
Durkheim was keenly aware of the problems that accompany an efflorescence of individualist thought: anomie, inter-individual tension and conflict. He noted that there is no evidence that people are on balance happier in organic societies than in mechanical ones--even if they are more free. He was fully aware, in a manner which recalls Sartre and (once more) Popper, of the burdens of individual freedom and choice. His grasp of the problematic led him, as noted, to stress the importance of social consensus, cohesion and collective norms: these Ethical Record, June, 2004 7 were just as important as personal freedom. Hence his perspective is a delicate balance between the claims of the individual and those of the group. He desired a society which was committed to both individual fulfilment and to general stability.
The balance Durkhein sought - as let's remember that he died as long ago as 1917 - is one which modern Western society has still not achieved. It is probably true that this equilibrium has never been fully realised, and perhaps never will be:
Has Britian Measured Up To Durkheim's Ideal? It's arguable that, in the 1980s and most of the 90s, British society as a whole swung too far in the individualistic direction, to the detriment of collective norms. Phrases such as 'the Me-generation' and assertions such as "there is no such thing as society" reflected this tendency, tied up as it was with material acquisitiveness and the view that politics has far less to do with moral principles or ideology than with increasing the sphere of affluence. Conspicuously lacking was the kind of moral connectedness, over and above economics, which Durkheim advocated. Equally lacking were large-scale outlets to satisfy the need for intense collective commitment. It will be recalled that Durkheim regarded this need as the effective foundation of traditional religion, and as one which - being perennial - now had to be met in secular, wholly societal ways.
There are currently signs that society is moving toward a more balanced position vis a vis the individual and the group. Since the late 90s, we have seen a growth in large-scale collective involvement, one that includes a radical questioning of, rather than acquiescence in, the economic and political status quo. Examples of this involvement are the movements against economic globalisation and against what is seen as Western imperialism in the Middle East. Also, at a more smaller-scale and local level, and actually over a longer period, there has been a growth in communitarianism, voluntary social activism, and other initiatives to bring individuals together in morally constructive and mutually strengthening ways. All these tendencies by-pass the institutional and bureaucratic rigidities of local and national government. They are offering a genuine locus for integration and sharing, which may continue to widen.
On the other hand, we have not seen a similar expansion of the integrative role of professional and occupational organisations. Durkheim placed his main hope in such an expansion. Employer-employee contexts have not in general kept pace with the informal ones previously specified. This may be precisely because of the character of the latter: being informal, they offer much greater scope for the untrammelled exchange of ideas, attitudes, feelings, and cultural perspectives, than is normally possible between employers and their staff. This discrepancy between the specifically occupational and the generally societal has becom even more marked with the growth of technocratic occupations. Also, while it is true that some professions--for example, law, teaching, medicine, social work--do have a strong moral component and social orientation, they account for only a minority of the working population, given the specialist abilities and qualifications they require. Hence only a small proportion of employees can directly benefit from the ethical frameworks they provide.
What is generally needed to reduce this discrepancy is greater linkage for the individual between job and broad social involvement, between wc.rk-relations and relations to society as a whole, between earning a living and partidpating in a
8 Ethical Record, June, 2004 common pursuit that is both moral and cultural. In this regard, we might remember E. M. Forster's famous dictum, "Only connect."
Most conventional socialists argue that this linkage can indeed be established with a transformation in the economic system. They insist that, under capitalism, employer-employee relations cannot possibly have the integrative function that Durkheim wished for them. These points obviously relate to socialism's argument about the essential alienation of workers in the capitalist system. The socialist line of thinking is certainly an important one, and in some economic respects is more realistic than Durkheim's. However, the point about alienation applies mainly to industrial production, which in modern society is of course only one of many areas of occupational activity. Also, we should recall Durkheim's fundamental criticism of conventional socialism: that it paid insufficient attention to non-economic factors, and wrongly assumed that problems of social integration were largely economic in character, and were therefore soluble wholly within the economic sphere. How far this criticism is justified is open to question. What is certain, however, is that contemporary society--despite some growth in cohesiveness--is faced with a plethora of social difficulties which economic measures alone will not solve. They are so deeply matters of culture, environment, inheritance from the past, general morality and inter-personal relations, that many approaches in addition to economic ones are required. Hence Durkheim's emphasis on the extra- economic remains seminal.
"Private" Secularism No Longer Possible Finally, reflecting on the entire range of Durkheim's arguments, issues of agreement and disagreement are to some extent secondary to the basic fact that he obliges secularists to look long and hard at general social questions, and to see them as central and inescapable. After reading Durkheim, a purely private form of secularism is no longer possible. By drawing attention to the never-ceasing link between the collective and the individual, the social and the personal, Durkheim achieves at least two things. First, he reminds us of our social responsibilities, especially to those who need our help. Second, by showing us how, as individuals, we are inextricably located within social formations, he helps us deal with problems of personal loneliness and atomisation: problems which are in fact widespread. As we become more aware of our relatedness to society, we become more appreciative of the latter and all it has to offer; and, in turn, more conscious of what we can contribute toward it. Thus we reject absolutely the contention that "there is no such thing as society".
For the secularist, one's fellow human beings are the only agency of support. These are not just family and friends but also the wider collective. The secular view that our fellows are all we have to rely on is powerfully reinforced by the rich and variegated character of Durkheim's work.
Durkheim's main works are:-- I) On the Division of Labour 2) Suicide 3) The Elementary Forms of Religious Life 4) The Rules of Sociological Method.
As quoted by Raymond Aron, in his section on Durkheim in Main Currents in Sociological Thought 2, Pelican Books, (1967), p.52. ibid., p. 92. ibid., p. 101.
Ethical Record, June, 2004 9 DR. YOUNUS SHAIKH FREE!
IHEU is pleased to announce that Dr Younus Shaikh, who has been languishing in gaol in Pakistan since October 2000 and in solitary confinement under sentence of death for blasphemy since August 2001, has been acquitted and freed after an appeal and retrial. Following his release in the greatest secrecy in November 2003 Younus Shaikh initially remained in Pakistan but his accusers than lodged an appeal against his acquittal, and he has now left Pakistan for Europe and safety.
Mohammed Younus Shaikh taught at a medical college in Islamabad, Pakistan. As a Human Rights activist in Pakistan he attracted the attention of the Islamic fundamentalists.
At a meeting of the South Asian Union on 1st October 2000, Younus Shaikh suggested that, in the interest of the people of Kashmir, the line of control between the Indian and Pakistani forces should become the international border. This clearly offended a Pakistani officer who responded by saying to Dr Shaikh that "I will crush the heads of those that talk like this". On 3rd October Dr Shaikh was suspended by his college without explanation.
One of Dr Shaikh's students complained to a cleric, saying that the doctor had made blasphemous remarks about the Prophet of Islam. The cleric filed a complaint with the police. Younus Shaikh was arrested on the evening of 4th October and charged with blasphemy. [Further details from www.iheu.orgl
IAN DUNCAN MACKILLOP (1939-2004)
Ian Duncan MacKillop who died of a heart attack, was an academic, biographer and critic. He taught at Sheffield University for 36 years and was awarded a Personal Chair in English in 2000. He was best known probably for his biography of F.R. Leavis under whom he had studied at Cambridge (ER. Leavis: A Life in Criticism, 1995).
The British Ethical Societies Why is his death noted here? The Times describes him as possessing an eccentric range of enthusiasms and that one of his first was Ethical Societies in Britain. His first book in fact was The British Ethical Societies (1986), a history of CI 9 and C20 ethical movements and their non-religious moral teachings. This was apparently inspired hy a chance finding of the writings of a school inspector (perhaps F.J. Gould) in a furniture auction. An important chapter was one about this society, the South Place Ethical Society, and he was associated with the Society for a time.
Jennifer Jeynes (with thanks to The Times and Guardian obituaries, 4 & 5 June.) 10 Ethical Record, June, 2004 DO GIFTED CHILDREN NEED SPECIAL PROVISION? Lorraine Foreman-Peck Lecture to the Ethical Society and the PER Group 25 March 2004
In 2002 the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) was set up by the Government to provide additional and complementary learning opportunities for the top 1 to 5% of students in England. The aims of the Academy are to raise the self esteem of gifted and talented young people, particularly those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, to improve their attainment, to help them fulfil their true potential and to make a full and meaningful contribution to society.
The aims imply that the needs of gifted and talented youth should be met and that at the moment they are not being met very well, if at all. However not all Heads, teachers or parents are convinced of the need or moral necessity for an Academy. Some indeed see it as an unnecessary and morally dubious intervention, in the sense that it takes resources away from the majority of ordinary students. There are also serious questions about the point and efficacy of the interventions that are envisaged. Do we for example really need to raise the self esteem of gifted students? If so what sort of intervention will achieve this? This talk explores some of these issues, via a consideration of the Simpson cartoon: Burt the Genius. The cartoon parodies attempts to enhance the self esteem of the gifted, and to provide intellectual stimulation that it is presumed is missing from the ordinary curriculum and from the company of the ordinary peer group.
Bart The Genius In the Simpsons cartoon Bart the Genius we see Bart going to a school for the gifted and talented. In the opening episode Bart takes an 10 test: the teacher comments to the class that they are not to let the fact that the results of this test will determine their life time income and socio-economic status worry them. The genuinely gifted student in the class displays his unpleasant character by reminding the teacher that Bart should face the window so that he is not tempted to cheat by looking at his classmates' papers.
The gifted student finishes early and is allowed to sit outside the window where he is able to see Bart. He rather childishly pokes his tongue out at him. This behaviour is at odds with the grown up and responsible persona he adopts in the company of his teachers. Bari becomes angry and takes the gifted student's paper from the teacher's desk and writes his own name at the top.
Bart and his parents are told that Bart has an exceptional IQ (216), the highest in the gifted class. The psychologist is delighted to hear that Bart is frustrated and bored at school. Bart is delighted to be told that he can opt out of ordinary school and need not do anything that bores him again. He will be given special treatment because he is exceptionally intelligent. However Bart's joy is short-lived. His gifted peer group soon see through him, and he cannot follow the work. We see the gifted children doing clever but bizarre things like speaking sentences backwards, working out long strings of equations at the speed of light for no other purpose than to produce a play on sound. Bart learns to do some 'clever' things in a limited way. When Homer (his dad) asks him how his day was he says
Ethical Record, June, 2004 I I 'Os, os' which is backwards for 'So, so'. Homer is of course very impressed. Bart's situation is not really funny at this point. We feel his humiliation and misery. The work the gifted students are doing is indeed impressive in the sense that it presupposes advanced knowledge and understanding, but the point of it is mystifying.
There is also an element of tragic farce in the cartoon. Because Bart is now a valued and special child the attitude of his family towards him is transformed from one of good-natured companionship to one of active intervention in his development. Homer starts to take an interest in him and Marge tries to provide high culture experiences. We see the family at the opera. Bart and Homer, rather predictably behave badly throughout. However Bart does not want the extra attention he is getting from his family to stop. He enjoys 'doing stuff' with his father especially.
When Bart, unable to face the humiliation of the gifted class, confesses, he asks his father to continue having fun with him. But now he is not special in any way the family stop making an effort to enrich his and their lives, and they revert to their old ways.
The cartoon expresses a range of attitudes to the gifted. Homer and Marge are proud (if surprised and puzzled) to have a gifted son. The school is amazed but relieved that Bart, who is a nuisance, will be taken off their hands. The psychologist is so convinced that the IQ score is all that needs to be known about Bart that he does not listen to the reservations of the Head teacher or Bart's parents. He exudes reverence for Bart - as does the Head of the gifted school.
As I said earlier, not all Heads, teachers or parents are convinced of the need or moral necessity for the special treatment of gifted students. Some indeed see it as an unnecessary and a socially unjust intervention. The problems are fore- grounded in the Simpson cartoon. Far from needing self esteem raising, the gifted arc arrogant and need taking down a peg or two. Identifying a student as gifted is another way of selecting an elite for privileged treatment. Gifted interventions seem to involve the exercise of mental faculties with no good educational rationale. The work is advanced but seems meaningless. Some ordinary people seem to forget that gifted students are young and they place them on a pedestal.
So what are the arguments for and against special treatment? Is it possible to provide additional and complementary learning opportunities that are educative?
A) Intervention is morally justified because:
I. Individual's potential - If wc believe it is right that all children develop their potential in order to make the best of their lives, then we should make special provision for gifted and talented students, since their potential is greater or better.
ii. Individual's well - being - Gifted children should have extra resources because they are often bored and frustrated at school. Their needs are not being met by the ordinary curriculum and by ordinary teachers. Furthermore their social needs are not being met. They should be able to meet and enjoy the company of other gifted
Ethical Record, June, 2004 children. In many schools clever students are pilloried.
Fairness - As a society we believe that we should direct extra resources for the education of the disabled or those students with a specific learning difficulty. The Gifted also have special needs.
Society benefits - Special treatment for the gifted `raises the game' of other children: 'a rising tide raises all ships'. Gifted children should receive extra because they have the potential to make a greater contribution to the good of society.
B) Intervention is not morally justified because:
I. Individual's potential - All children have potential. Extra resources could go to ordinary children to develop their special interests. Extra resources for the handicapped or learning disabled are justified because they do need extra resources in order to reach an acceptable threshold of attainment. Why should we provide extra resources only for children who already have advanced attainments?
Individual's well - being - For children with a gift in one area there is existing provision e.g. clubs, music classes. Generally 'bright' children are usually 'streamed' for those subjects where the children are at a comparable stime. 'Boredom' is caused by poor teaching. For those who are in the top 1 to 5% across the board, we could say that it is more important to educate teachers to teach the top 5% in the company of their not un intelligent peers.
Fairness - While it is possible to identify someone with autism (say), (who undoubtedly does need individual and specialised teaching and resourcing), it is not so easy to identify someone who is gifted or talented in the same sense. Gifted and talented children may be endowed with good intelligence but it seems probable they have been the beneficiaries of privileged social, cultural and financial capital. Given the socially acquired nature of accomplishments generally it would be surprising to find that a gifted or talented person did not also have well educated and interested parents/guardians. It would be very surprising if a gift for maths, or the bass trombone was fully formed at birth. So what is being implicitly invoked is an idea of superior learning potential. Indeed 10 tests claim to measure the genetic part of intelligence. These though have lost credibility for many reasons, not least the observation that people have to acquire language, maths and reasoning skills in order to do them. These are all influenced by upbringing, teaching and practice. In order to be fair/equitable we must be able to say that unless such children are given special treatment they will be disadvantaged.
Society benefits - The exceptionally gifted bass trombonist may set an impossibly high, unattainable standard.
My own view is that arguments against extra resourcing or specialised teaching dissolve when faced with the reality of students who are very able. Good teaching and a consideration for the wellfare of students ought to outweigh doubts about the coherence of the idea of superior learning potential or considerations of enriching the already enriched. But it is only morally possible to take this stance
Ethical Record, June, 2004 13 where the learning requirements of those with learning disabilities and so-called ordinary children are met in a roughly equitable way.
The Simpson video highlighted the popular perception that meeting the educational needs of the gifted and talented may in fact lead to educationally dubious practices and may encourage arrogance. It is very important therefore that any programme for such children is informed by clear educational aims and appropriate values.
Provision fur Gifted and Talented children There is now recognition that it is just practically difficult to accomodate exceptionally gifted and talented children with their peer groups. Many teachers are not able to cater for their advanced needs because their own attainments may not have reached that level. This is particularly a problem in Maths and Science where there is a national shortage of well-qualified teachers.
The Tomlinson Interim Report (2004) on the Reform of the 14-19 curriculum goes some way to recognise the needs of the very able by suggesting that children be allowed to advance through the curriculum at their own pace. High achievers can skip GCSEs for example and go straight to AS level or they can take degree level Units at school. Slower learners can stay with GCSE level work during Yrs 12 & 13, and graduate with an Entry or Foundation Diploma.
Tomlinson's solution suggests a different kind of approach to differential pace and attainment in learning to the one outlined in my sketch of the gifted school in the Simpson video. The Report suggests a fast tracking approach rather than the enrichment approach parodied in the Simpson cartoon. Fast tracking simply acknowledges the fact that students' rates of learning differ and there is no special kudos in being fast. It is an acknowledgement of a special need, but there is no specially devised provision. It is the same for everyone, it is simply accessed earlier by those able to do so.
An enrichment approach, such as the National Academy's, does on the other hand seem to suggest a special need other than simply being fast and able. It has wider educational ambitions than that offered by the National Curriculum or Higher Education. It seems to aim to nurture general cognitive interests through complementary offerings not generally available such as courses in code breaking, forensic science, history master classes or supporting life on Mars. In the Simpson video, breadth of reading and following ones own interests were positive enrichment values. What seems to be being encouraged is deep engagement and intellectual curiosity. An enrichment approach seems to be working with the ideal of a self-determined, mature individual following his/her own intellectual interests regardless of outcomes such as examination results. The humour in the video is partly engendered by the contrast between this romantic ideal and the actual reality.
The danger with an enrichment approach is captured well by the Simpson video. The curriculum seems random and disconnected from planned progression. Another problem is that it seems just to he entertaining rather than having any educational weight. A challenge then for the enrichment model is to come up with a scheme that is truly enriching, coherent and worthwhile.
14 Ethical Record, June, 2004 NEWS FROM THE AMERICAS Ellen Ramsay
1 April, 2004, April Fool's Day, was to be the date the British Columbia provincial government in Canada played one of its cruellest jokes on welfare recipients by cutting off thousands of legitimate claimants under a new two-year time limit on benefits. Fortunately, the date turned into a victory for opponents of this so-called "welfare reform" with the Liberal government backing off its draconian cuts. The plan to arbitrarily axe needy claimants is discussed in a book entitled A Bad Time to be Poor: An Analysis of British Columbia's New Welfare Policies by Seth Klein and Andrea Long of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. This study examines the transformation of welfare policies from the days of the so-called "social safety net" to the current policy of "legislated poverty".
The concept of time-limits for welfare originated with Bill Clinton's Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Under this act, a five-year time limit to welfare was introduced in the United States along with compulsory workfare programs. The main person responsible for restructuring welfare in the US was Tommy Thompson, Governor of Wisconsin. Clinton faced vociferous criticism from within his own party and from people like Senator Patrick Moynihan who said the time limits were the "most brutal act of social policy we have known since the Reconstruction." Countless studies have shown a significant increase in homelessness in the United States as well as a huge increase in the number of people depending on food stamps.
In Canada, Ontario led the way in cruel welfare policies by privately contracting welfare delivery to a Bermuda company called Accenture. This company and others profited off the backs of the poor by receiving financial benefits from the savings they made for government by disentitling welfare claimants. In British Columbia, Canada's western most province, the government decided that welfare claimants should only receive welfare benefits after proving they had been financially independent from state support for two years and then introduced a rule which stated a claimant could only receive benefits for 24 consecutive months out of five years. After two years then, a claimant would be cut off without a cent. The provincial government aimed to cut off 28,000 welfare recipients out of a total of 178,000 on I April of this year. As it stands, a single adult on welfare only receives £204 per month for shelter and living expenses without access to any housing benefit. Already since the B.C. Liberals took office in 2001, 70,000 people have been forced off welfare. Of these one-half were unable to be contacted for an "exit survey" conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources because their phones had been disconnected.
In Canada 116 of workers, or 2 million people, are working for less than £4 per hour in retail, hotel and other services. At least 14,000 people are living in emergency shelters. Increasingly these workers are female and educated - 40% have completed high school and 36% have college or university degrees. 19% of women with disabilities are unable to afford their medication. This isn't the image that the government wishes to project to the world, but it is increasingly the reality of the neo-conservative ideology of both federal and provincial governments. I April, proved a partial victory for the poor in British Columbia with the temporary roll-back of welfare cuts, but much mobilizing and struggling lies ahead in a province once described as "lotus land". Ethical Record, June, 2004 15 'SCIENCE IN THE CITY' WALK A Ethical Society Walk, 23 May 2004 Devised and Led by Michael E. Howgate M.Sc.
I. Museum of London. In the sunken garden area in front of the cafe is a working Roman water lifting machine based on remains excavated in Gresham Street just a few hundred yards away. The original was constructed before 100 B.C. and is the first machine made in London that We know of. Powered by slaves or a donkey it could have raised over 1,000 gallons per hour. The reconstruction was made for the 'Time Team' programme based on archaeological evidence and contemporary written reports of similar machines. The machine can often be seen in operation, weather permitting.
On the roof of the circular walkway are miniature stalactites (hanging) and on the floor decking stalagmites (amorphous flattened areas) with columns in the space between the roof decking and the top of the wall. There is also an area of rippling 'flow stone' near the far exit. These are similar to structures seen in limestone caves in the Mendips, Peak District and Yorkshire Dales. They have been produced by the effect of rainwater, in effect a dilute solution of carbonic acid reacting with lime in the cement as it percolates through joints and cracks in the roof to produce a solution of calcium bicarbonate. On exposure to the air and as some of the water evaporates a tiny amount of calcium carbonate is deposited. These 'straw' stalactites are hollow and very delicate.
2. Postman's Park. Theparkcontains several examples of 'Tree ferns' from New Zealand. These are classic examples of 'living fossils' and have remained virtually unchanged since the Jurassic period. The park also used to house 'The Minotaur' by Michael Ayrton until complaints from the nearby church forced its removal to Bassishaw Highwalk Tree Ferns in Postmans Park
81 Newgate Street. The plaque on these B.T. offices marks the site of Guglielmo Marconi's first public transmission of wireless signals on 27 July 1896.
Just off Newgate Street. The passage behind the ruined church, now a rather attractive garden, runs alongside the offices of Merrill Lynch and contains benches made of the Portland Stone 'Roach Bed'. This is packed with abundant fossil casts of 150 million year old gastropods and bivalves. Called 'Portland screws' and
16 Ethical Record, June, 2004 losses' eds' by the quarry t.;la workers of the Isle of Portland, the screws are internal casts of the : co.t gastropod Aptyxiella - portlandicum and the losses eds' internal casts of the bivalve Trigonia gibbosa. External moulds of Trigonia, visible where the internal cast has popped out, reveal the leS • external ornamentation of the shell to be-a series of C. f ridges and lines of Portland Stone 'Roach Bed' benches tubercles. by Merrill Lynch offices
The corner of Newgate Street and Giltspur Street. Built into the church wall of St. Sepulchre without Newgate is the first public drinking fountain in London which was erected in 1859 by the philanthropist Samuel Gurney M.P. founder of the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association. The aim of the association were primarily to provide healthy drinking water for the poor who until then almost invariably relied on shallow pumped water which was liable to contamination due to the close proximity of sewers and burial grounds. A contemporary painting of the fountain shortly after it was constructed can be seen in the Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road. Drinking fountains along with cattle and horse troughs were a common sight in every city, town and village right up to the 1960s. Those that remain have now been converted to flower beds or collect rubbish and attract vandals. The church has associations with William Harvey (see 6) and Henry Wood of the promenade concerts.
Giltspur Street William Harvey worked at nearby St. Bartholemew's hospital where he did much of his research on the circulation of the blood. The hospital museum (open 10 am — 4 pm. Tuesday to Friday, admission free) has a bust of Harvey and a small display about him. Later doctors and surgeons probably acquired cadavers to practice on from the local graveyard. The body-snatchers or 'resurrection men' laid out their 'victims' in the local pub where they could be viewed and purchased (£10 was an average price for a good specimen — a lot of money in those days).
The small building behind the church and with Charles Lamb's bust next to it is a graveyard watch tower, built in 1791, to prevent such grave robbers gaining access to the graveyard. London graveyards were abandoned in the nineteenth century as they had become overcrowded and a dangerous health hazard; and new 'Joint Stock' and municipal cemeteries in the suburbs were opened such as those at Kensal Green and Highgate.
Holborn Viaduct. Was opened in 1869 to straddle the valley of the Fleet river which had become a major obstruction to communications between The City and Westminster. All the services are in purpose built tunnels which are still very much
Ethical Record, June, 2004 17 in use. A series of allegorical representation include 'Science' — I leave it to you to spot the various instruments and symbols.
St. Paul's Cathedral. When the tower of 'Old' St. Paul's was being surveyed for repairs, Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke used the site for experiments on atmospheric pressure and pendulums, and there was even a proposal to use the tower as a gigantic telescope. While erecting the post-fire 'New' St. Paul's, Wren proposed that one of the smaller cupolas double as a telescope; after all he was Professor of Astronomy at Oxford.
On the main entrance steps are sections through primitive 450 million vear old straight nautiloids, relatives of the later ammonites and present day nautilus, squid and cuttlefish. The segmented shell housed gases which could be used to regulate the buoyancy of the animal.
The bollards in front of the cathedral are of Shap granite from the Lake District. This 400 million year old igneous rock has large crystals of pink orthoclase feldspar which formed before the rest of the molten rock crystallised. The dark patches seen on some of the bollards are 'heathens' or 'xenoliths' — partly digested and re-crystallised pieces of surrounding rock caught up in the molten granite. In the churchyard to the north is a large Ginkgo biloba or Maidenhair tree, another living fossil from the Age of the Dinosaurs.
Aldermanbury. The museum of the Worshipful Company of Cloekmakers (open 9.30 am.- 4.45 pm Monday to Saturday. Free) contains a small display about John Harrison (1693-1776) of longitude fame and includes a half scale model of his HI chronometer and 145, his last timepiece which won the final part of the £10,000 Longitude prize. Cross over London Wall by the steps behind the Guildhall onto Bassishaw Highwalk to see the statue that so offended the Christians. Then down the other side to -
Fore Street. The Post Office is fronted with slabs of 450 million year old Green Volcanic Ash from the Lake District. The fine grained greenish ash contains beds and pieces of grey Pumice which can be seen weathering out and feel rougher to the touch. The greenish colour is due to the presence of abundant ferrous iron oxide which indicates that the ash was laid down in reducing (de-oxygenated) conditions. The convoluted beds seen on some of the slabs are probably due to slumping of unconsolidated ash caused by contemporary earthquakes.
I I . Fore Street — Salter's Hall. The Salter's Company, one of the 12 'Great' City Livery Companies being founded in 1394, still has interests in chemistry, mainly promoting education in the science. In the small courtyard are lumps of reddish . 250 million year old Triassic rock-salt from Cheshire which arc rapidly disappearing despite the protective coating of plastic which can be seen peeling off the larger piece. The red colouration is due to abundant ferric iron oxide which indicates a richly oxygenated environment of deposition. The large block has a, now indecipherable, commemorative plaque.
Slightly acidic rainwater has exchanged ions with the salt to produce hydrochloric acid which has attacked the copper in the cupro-nickel plaque. A
IS Ethical Record, June, 2004 much larger lump of translucent rock-salt from Pakistan can be seen in the lobby of the building. The rock salt was deposited when Cheshire was a land-locked lake in a desert landscape, probably similar to Lake Chad in North Africa.
12. St. Alphage Gdns. Wallside & Barber Surgeons Garden On the way back to the Museum of London we will pass several remaining stretches of the Roman/Medieval wall of the City in and around the Barbican. Walkers who wish to make a day of it are advised in particular to see the 'London before London' and Roman galleries in the Museum of London.
References: nrking Water — Roman technology in action, Ian Blair & Jenny Hall (2003) Museum of London.
British Mesozoic Fossils (1964) British Museum (Natural History)
British Palaeozoic Fossils (1964) British Museum (Natural History)
Ingenious Pursuits, Lisa Jardine (1999) Abacus
The evolution of plants and flowers, Barry Thomas (1981) Peter Lowe
Longitude, Dava Sobel (1995) 4th. Estate
VICTOR HUGO AND SCIENCE From an article in Les Cu/tiers Rationalistes (562) by Jean-Pierre Kahane Translated with commentary by Valerie NI. Henderson
Victor Hugo, best known to British readers as a novelist, has a far larger reputation in France. He was an eminent poet of the Romantic Movement on a par with Wordsworth and therefore much pre-occupied with mankind's relations with the natural world and the supernatural. Hugo was also a fervent republican and politically active, being elected to the National Assembly of the Second Republic in 1848. When the Second Empire was established in 1852 he went into voluntary exile until 1870, spending the intervening years in the Channel Islands
Kahane's article begins with an account of a series of table-turning seances, reportedly well-documented, held by Hugo and his family at their Jersey home. The spirits of many dead literary giants were summoned to attend, the most notable of whom was Shakespeare. After his first visit Shakespeare sportingly agreed to communicate in French verse, conceding that English was inferior to French! Kahane makes little comment about these episodes beyond implying that I-kW:is family colluded in deceiving the patriarch. Only his second son Francois-Victor expressed his incredulity. Perhaps that is why Hugo pushed him, as Kahane has it. into making a translation of Shakespeare's works. This task took ten years to complete and then Hugo himself wrote 'tine monumentalc introduction' entitled 'William Shakespeare'.
Although this book contained some rationalisations of the table-turning episodes it became a treatise on Art and Science. For Hugo all great artistic Ethical Record, June, 2004 masterpieces stand alone. Their common link is their unique nature which is absolute. Science, by contrast, is governed by the relative and develops in a series of steps which gradually alter our concept of reality until it assumes the changeable certainty by which we live. Hugo goes on to display considerable erudition on the theme of science ceaselessly erasing and re-inventing itself. Among many subjects discussed are optics, cosmology, meteorology, anthropology, locomotion, human reproduction, spectral analysis, medicine and sorcery, always relating science to its own history and that of the human race.
Kahane suggests that Hugo obtained his scientific knowledge from his friendship with Arago, lifetime secretary of the Academie des Sciences and M in ister for War and the Navy in the republican government of 1848. He was an astronomer, physicist and a remarkable populariser of science. One summer night in 1834 he took Hugo to the Paris Observatory and showed him the sunrise on the moon, its craters and mountains and in particular the 'promontory of dreams'. Hugo described this as one of his most profound memories and said the 'promontory of dreams' is in Shakespeare and all the great poets. Arago imparted a great deal of information on aspects astronomy and optics to Hugo including his pre-occupation with constellations beyond those already identified and named by man. [Hugo had raised this subject with Galileo at one of the sessions of table- tu rni ng.] Arago also introduced Hugo to the classification of stars according to size and colour , the interaction of astronomy and the theory of light, Newton's prism, Herschel's work on infrared rays and Fraunhofer's invention of the spectroscope and consequent studies on the solar spectrum and spectral classification of stars.
Hugo's apparent insights into a major discovery in 1859 by Bunsen and Kirchhoff must have come from elsewhere as Arago died in 1853. Bunsen and Kirchhoff found a correspondence between spectral rays and chemical elements which was of great assistance at the end of the nineteenth century in the discovery of the chemical composition of stars and new elements e.g. helium. They named this process spectral analysis. Kahane claims that the description of this process given in the chapter of 'William Shakespeare' entitled ' L'Art et la Science' would only have been known to a handful of scientists in 1863 when Hugo's book was written and suggests that Hugo could have been in contact with another great populariser of science, Camille Flamarrion, author of a book entitled L'Astronomie Populaire.
Kahane seems bent on presenting Hugo as a heroic figure in the struggle to integrate science into the culture of his time, a struggle that still goes on. Hugo was a great literary figure of the Romantic Movement which emphasised freedom of the iindividual and untrammelled imagination, both of which can be observed in Hugo's attitude to science. Kahane is noticeably reticent about the table-turning episodes but the Romantics were drawn to the supernatural and morbid as an escape from everyday life. Perhaps it was a simple reaction from a man who had a lot of time on his hands after withdrawing from public life. The seances were obviously of use to his work and he was a great self-publicist. On the re- establishment of republican government in 1870 he returned to Paris and became a Senator. 20 Ethical Record, June, 2004 ROOTSOF HATE; ANTISEMITISM INEUROPE BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST by William I Brustein CUP 2003. ppk xv + 384 pp. £17.99 ISBN 0 521 77478 0
Reviewed by Gerald Vinten
This is undoubtedly a landmark text which adds strong empirical evidence to a topic which can become understandably highly charged and emotive, including at the extreme those who present the perverse view that the Holocaust, or perhaps more accurately holocausts, never happened. The research methodology is the most telling feature, not to mention its careful execution. One is never dealing with perfect source material, especially when historical data is involved, in this case the period between 1899-1939. Ideally the earlier reference period would have been 1870, but suitable sources were not available until 1899. Within the constraints, this text is as perfect as can be, and results in an impressive tour de force. The author points out that nowadays we rely on survey research, but such was virtually non-existent prior to the 1940s.
The author considers popular explanations for the rise of antisemitism, most of which are related to the general literature on racial prejudice, such as relative deprivation, ethnic competition, and frustration/aggression. This covers modernism, scapegoating, reaction against the strong state, and political cultural theories.
The American Jewish Yearbook is taken as the primary source. First of all five countries are selected to represent a wide range of antisemitism. Germany and Romania are ranked as high, Italy as intermediate, and France and Great Britain as low. In Romania, for example, for every favourable article about Jews, there were six unfavourable articles. Next a typology is developed across thirteen categories ranging from murderous acts to false accusations against Jews. Then to supplement two newspapers are taken from each country. The first is the newspaper with the largest circulation between the dates of 1899 and 1939 to match the data period on anti-semitic acts from the American Jewish Yearbook. This produces Le Petit Parisiien (France), the Berliner Morgenpost (Germany), the Daily Mail (Great Britain), the Corriere della Sera (Italy) and Universal (Romania). For these both a random and a purposive sample is taken. The first involved taking the 15th of each month from 15 January 1899 to 15th December 1939.
Then to ensure balanced regional and political reporting, as well as a different readership served, selective use is made of a second newspaper, La Dépeche de Toulouse (France), the Miinchner Neueste Nachrichten (Germany), the Daily Herald (Great Britain), It Messaggero (Italy), and Lumea (Romania). The purposive sample revolves around two events: the Evian Conference of July 1938 and the Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews and Jewish property of November 1938, both being reported extensively throughout Europe.
There is displayed huge erudition in bringing together the circumstances in each of the countries in a way that is historically accurate, balanced and compelling. Articles were coded as religious antisemitism if there was implicit or explicit emphasis on alleged negative Jewish religious accusations, such as anti-
Ethical Record, June, 2004 Christ, desecrators of host wafer, Christ killers, blood rituals, anti-progressive, and ritualistic. The racial involves negative immutable, inherent, or evolutionary traits — physical, social, mental and spiritual. The economic involves alleged negative Jewish economic practices. The political concerns 'negative' Jewish political activities and attachments.
As if the author had not given an already fulsome exploration, he adds a multiple regression analysis of antisemitic acts for the 1899-1939 period on GDP per capita, Jewish immigration, and leftist vote. The first two were good predictors of anti-Semitic behaviour, but the third was not. The book concludes, like all good histories, by considering the contemporary significance of the research, and the nuances of antiemitism at the present time. Optimism pervades in considering the European situation with the weakening of each of the four factors that had given rise to antisemitic sentiment in the first place. Christian-Jewish relations seem in a reasonably healthy state, but this often does not apply to Islamic-Jewish relations, especially with the Palestinian issue unresolved, allowing the final sentence to read: 'Sadly, the curtain of history has yet to drop on society's longest hatred.' If there are any appropriate prizes, this book should be nominated without reservation.
Professor Gerald Vinten PhD was Deputy Dean and Professor of Management at the Southampton Business School and Head, European Business School, London. He is Past President of the Institute of Internal Auditors and Past Chairman of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. lie edits the Managerial Auditing Journal and served on the Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. He acts as a consultant in higher education.
VIEWPOINTS French Ban on Hcjab
I write to say that I totally agree with Peter Hearty in his criticism of the French ban on the hejab and other religious symbols in schools (Ethical Record May 2004). I think we should all aim to ensure that nothing similar happens here. What this action overlooks more than anything else are the psychological undercurrents.
Firstly it will draw attention to religious symbols so that the psychological message is reinforced for all to see. Were it not for this I for one would hardly notice a headscarf, not read into it a powerful psychological message.
A further and more serious consequence is that those who feel that their personal choice is being denied will feel that French secularism is just as oppressive as the oppressiveness that insists on women wearing the hejab in some Muslim countries. This is very dangerous as it undermines the true sense of the liberty that we mostly seek to support. It also reinforces the message to Muslim and other countries that what we wear is a matter of state concern.
But perhaps the most damaging consequence is that it destroys one of the most important effects of a true and unselfconscious secularism. The kind of secularism that we have in this country to date is poorly defined but very powerful
71 Ethical Record, June, 2004 in its capacity to cut religion down to size. By supporting the liberty of many religions and an even greater number of sects with all their symbolic accoutrements it effectively makes all of them look small. All of them are forced into asking what public good they have to offer and they have to put their arguments in a form that supports the values that all accept. This surely is true secularism. It is society discovering what is most important for itself as a whole and a leadership that understands this will, as necessary, enshrine it in legislation. A legislature that feels that the secularism of a country is undermined by a few schoolgirls in headscarves is virtually advertising its weakness and becoming as oppressive and as petty as any other minor sect that happens by chance to have too much power.
As for the girls themselves one should remember that most of them will be supported by their families and the effect of this legislation will be to put these families on the defensive. Far from liberating these children it will push them more firmly into the psychological bosoms of their homes and their culture. Give them liberty and they will grow up in a society that they can see respects their liberty but also that of all - a society that promotes free thought and therefore encourages them to rethink their religious assumptions.
In short, this piece of legislation might in the end have the opposite effect from the one intended. Dr. John Edmondson - Louth, Lincolnshire.
Setting the 'Ethical' Record Straight
Upon reading my article Spiritual or Secular approaches to addiction Recovery in the March 2004 issue of Ethical Record, I was disturbed by the manner in which the Editor selectively highlighted things to present his biases under my name.
I tried to present a balanced scientific evaluation of the efficacy of both spiritual and secular approaches to addiction recovery based on the existing data. Unfortunately, the editor chose to put 'Spiritual' in quotation marks in the title; an obvious attempt to denigrate spiritually based treatment approaches. This was definitely not my intent. Spiritual approaches to recovery are often effective and the editor unfairly attacked them via this change in the title.
In a section that included a discussion of AA founder Bill Wilson's spiritual experience under a variation of the Towns cure, the editor created a new section heading entitled, —Illumination' Via A Witches Brew." The connection between Wilson and the Towns cure was intended as an interesting aside in this historical illustration of the problematic nature of determining treatment efficacy. Instead, the editor set part of this off in a sensationalized manner. Again, this was an inappropriate manipulation of both my words and my intent. Randolph Atkins, Jr. Ph.D. - USA
It is an accepted Editor's prerogative to use headings or sub-headings to highlight interesting or significant phrases. Articles may also need to be shortened for lack of space, but I do not alter the text itself {Ed}
The views expressed in this Journal are not necessarily those of the Society.
Ethical Record, June, 2004 23 PROGRAMME OF EVENTS AT THE ETHICAL SOCIETY The Library, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, WC1R 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8037/8034 Registered Charity No. 251396 Website: www.ethicalsoc.org.uk email: [email protected] No charge unless stated
JUNE 2004 Sunday 20 1100 ETHICS: COMMON SENSE AND PHILOSOPHIC QUEST Prof. Alphonse Grieder
1500 THE HISTORY OF ATHEISM - Part I video Tuesday 22 THEMES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 19-2100 3) Philosophical Implications of Quantum Mechanics Tutor: Steve Ash Refreshments LI Sunday 27 1100 THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONALASSOCIATION FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN GUJARAT (illustrated) Rebekah biltin-Rawstrone
1500 THE HISTORY OF ATHEISM - Part 2 video Tuesday 29 THEMES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 19-2100 4) Realism, Anti-Realism or Non-Realism Tutor: Steve Ash Refreshments £ I JULY Saturday 3 cOACH TRIP TO THETFORD for Thomas Paine Day events 0930-2000 leave from & return to Red Lion Square Only £15 coach fare. Book with admin. sec. 0207 242 8034 Sunday 4 1100 'One Man's History is Another Man's Pack of Lies': LEICESTER SECULAR SOCIETY IN CONTEXT Dave Ray, Leicester Secular Society 1500 ETHICAL DI LEMMA: Censorship Chair: Edmund-McArthur Friday 9 GAY & LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (GALHA) 1930 MARTYR TO THE CAUSE: Fire & Brimstone Productions A play based on thc scandalous life and times of the one time ardent secularist and socialist, Annie Besant (1847-1933) All welcome —
Sunday 11 1100 HOW SHOULD LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES COPE WITH RELIGION? Prof. David McLellan
1500 INTERLINGUA: Better than Esperanto As An International Language? Jay Marcham
Sunday'IS SKENE MEMORIAL LECTURE 2004 1100 The Silence of the Lambs: THE MADNESS OF CHARLES & MARY LAMB Sarah Burton Author of Impostors: Six Kinds ofLiar (Viking Penguin), 1 Visiting Lecturer at London University (Goldsmiths and Royal Holloway Colleges) and Univ. of Cambridge Summer School. Contributor to the Guardian and Independent.
Published by the South Place Ethical,Society, Conway Hall. 25 Red Lion Square, WCIR 4RL Printed by LG. Bryson (Printer) Ltd. 156-162 High Road, London N2 9AS ISSN 0014 - 1690