Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society
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Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 111 No. 9 £1.50 October 2006 EDITORIAL — ATOMIC ANTICS Nuclear proliferation is becoming rampant (eg North Korea) owing to the refusal of the nuclear powers, led by the USA, to keep their promises. They were supposed (but they did not) to commence their own nuclear disarmament in exchange for the non-nuclear states (those which had signed the non-proliferation treaty) agreeing to stay that way. Instead, the USA now has more nuclear weapons than the rest of the world put together, and can bomb any country to smithereens at a moment's notice. The UK has given up some 'battlefield' nukes but aims to renew the strategic Trident system. It remains the case that the only effective and non-hypocritical way to get non-proliferation is for the UK to press for general nuclear disarmament. If the USA agreed, Russia etc. would readily follow. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to occur before 2020, after several 'small' nuclear wars have struck horror into the world's politicians and public. MOTH AND CANDLE A veil-wearing speaker in this week's Moral Maze (Radio 4) gave as reason for wearing the veil that and men were like moths which gather round the candle, the woman, who therefore needs protection. This mplies a complete lack of trust in men on the part of the veiled woman. The panel should have asked her whether this mistrust could possibly apply to a school teacher 'facing' a class of children, or when consulting an MP in his constituency surgery. CAN WE FORCE PEOPLE TO BE DEMOCRATS? Robin Barrow 3 DARWIN DIED AN AGNOSTIC - A RIPOSTE TO ANTONY FLEW Donald Rooum 10 THE YOUNG LADY WHO TEACHES PHILOSOPHY Tom Rubens 13 GAIA: A LIVING PLANET OR A MISCONCEIVED IDEA? Chris Bratcher IS THE FUTURE OF THE RATIONALIST MOVEMENT: AN AGENDA FOR RADICAL CHANGE Donald Langdown 19 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 24 THE HUMANIST REFERENCE LIBRARY The Humanist Reference Library is normally open for members and researchers on Tuesdays to Fridays between 2.30 and 6.30pm. It is best to let the Librarian, Jennifer Jeynes, know in advance of your intention to visit the Library. Tel: 020 7242 8037/4. Email: [email protected] SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square. London WC IR 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8034 Fax: 020 7242 8036 Website www.ethicalsoc.org.uk email: [email protected] Editor, Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac Elected Officers GC Chairman: Terry Mullins Hon. Representative: Donald Liversedge Vice Chairman Edmund McArthur Hon. Treasurer: Christopher Bratcher Editor: Norman Bacrac SPES Staff Acting Adnsin Secretary: Miranda Perlin Tel: 020 7242 8034 Librarian/Programme Coordinator: Jennifer Jeynes M.Sc. Tel: 020 7242 8037 HaIt Manager: Peter Vlachos M.A., DMS Lettings Assistants: Carina Kelsey, Lisa Tang Tel: 020 7242 8032 Caretakers: Eva Aubrechtova. Shaip Bullaku, David Wright Tel: 020 7242 8033 Maintenance Operative: Zia Hameed SPES AGM, 12 NOVEMBER 2006 There will be six vacancies for the General Committee at the AGM. The annual report, the nominated candidates for the GC and motions for the AGM will be sent to all members of SPES shortly. VICTORIA LE FEVRE Our Administrative Officer, Victoria Le Fevre, resigned last month, having been with the Society for about three years. During that time, 'Vicky', as she was popularly known, had shown great competence in administration, eg in work for the Conway Hall 75th anniversary event and also production of a special publicity brochure for the Society. Her brand of enthusiasm and creativity are qualities that the Society can ill afford to lose. DONATION OF BOOKS BELONGING TO SIR HERMANN BONDI We are grateful to Hermann's widow, Christine Bondi, for the donation to the Humanist Reference Library, which the Bondis always supported, of books relevant to humanism. These included works on philosophy given to Hermann by his friend Karl Popper, and a valuable series of Reports of the annual Pugwash conferences on nuclear weapons, founded by the late Joseph Rotblat. who campaigned tirelessly for nuclear disarmament. SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Reg. Charily No. 251396 Pounded in 1793. the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are: the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism. the 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 proutramme 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 ten times a year. Funerals and Memorial meetinns may be arranged. The annual subscription is LI 8 (£12 if a full-time strident. unwaged or over 65). Ethical Record, &lobo; 2006 CAN WE FORCE PEOPLE TO BE DEMOCRATS? Professor Robin Barrow, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Lecntre to a joint meeting of the Ethical Society and Philosophy for Education Renewal, 29 March 2(X6 Currently, political rhetoric and practice, throughout the Western World, but particularly and most obviously in the United States, are based upon four seemingly unexceptionable propositions: i) "democracy is an intrinsically good thing." ii) "we (the speaker) have the truest democracy." iii) -it is morally legitimate. even right, to impose democracy on others:' iv) "we can effectively do so.- What the connection between these various claims is supposed to be is not always entirely clear. Is the reasoning that since democracy is inherently good we are entitled to impose it on others, or is it perhaps that it is because we are the truest democracy that we have some right to dictate to others? Is it that we will succeed, because we are truly democratic, or that success is assured because of the intrinsic goodness in democracy? But in the end the questions of the precise nature and the coherence of the reasoning that links these propositions hardly matters, since each of the four claims is in itself extremely dubious. Is The US. The Apotheosis Of Democracy? Quite why the United States (or anywhere else) should assume that it represents the apotheosis of democracy is unclear. In order to establish any claim to be the quintessential X. two conditions need to be met: there has to be a clear and unequivocal definition of X, and there has to be some evidence to support the contention that one meets the defining characteristics of X. In the case of the United States' claim to being the pre-eminent democracy there is an abundance of argument to suggest that it is not, at least in respect of the sort of criteria for democracy most commonly advanced. Thus, to cite two well-known and obvious points: citizens of the United States do not directly elect their own President (who may as a Consequence not have the support of the majority), and the resources required to run for office effectively disbar the majority from a political career. More generally, one does not have to be a Michael Moore or a Ralph Nader to recognize that corporate and media interests to a very large extent control both the process and the outcome in AMerican politics. This is a far cry from any plausible notion of rule by the people and for the people. But this brings me to the second point, which is actually more important: there is no agreed definition of democracy, so how can any state claim to be the best example of it? Democracy, is a polymorphous concept and what Gallic long ago usefully termed an -essentially contested" concept: largely because it is inherently evaluative, the question of what constitutes true democracy is forever open to argument. Certainly there are no a priori grounds for assuming that the particular form that democracy takes in the United States is "truer", "more democratic than" or "superior to" various other forms that it has taken historically or takes today in other places. The fact that the concept is essentially contested does not mean, however. that, like Humpty Dumpty, we can make the word mean whatever we want. There is a minimal descriptive content that sets limits on what can count as democracy. More or less uncontentiously "democracy" means "government by the people or Ethical Record, October, 2006 3 their elected representatives", and it is to be contrasted with government by either an individual ruler or a minority group which in either case is not answerable to the people as a whole. Obviously this definition invites a lot of further questions: the Athenians, for example, in developing the first known democracy. did not count women, resident aliens or the disproportionately large body of slaves as people in civic terms (as we do not count children). Furthermore, the definition says nothing about the nature or extent of "government" or the terms on which representatives may be said to be truly elected by the people. But the definition does provide us with solid 2round to stand on and reminds us that subsequent debate about such things as what form election should take, who should count as citizens, and whether it is superior to other types of government is debate about a theory of government rather than about the meaning of democracy. Over fifty years ago. Schumpeter argued that by the eighteenth century a theory of democracy had arisen to the effect that democracy "realizes the common good by making the people itself decide issues through the election of individuals ... to carry out its will." He proceeded to reject this view, pointing out the difficulties involved in the notions of a common good and a common will.