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DevinMcDougallSecondPaper 11 - 17 Apr 2010 - Main.DevinMcDougall
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Climate Change and the Importance of Creeds-End Fit
 | | | But Arnold also backs away from his "ant-hill" analogy at various points in the text. He invokes his identity as a lawyer, as opposed to social scientist, and claims he wishes to avoid "the vice of definition." Arnold seems more preoccupied with the ways in which the American creed of capitalism forecloses understanding of how American society actually works and less with the details of how creeds operate.
However, at one point, he discusses creeds in a light indicating a certain recognition of human capability for self-reflexivity and agency. He writes of Riverside Church's famous former pastor: | |
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< | With the recognition of the fact that church creeds are not searches for universal truth, we can understand better the function of churches in society. Preachers like Harry Emerson Fosdick preach realistically and effectively about the place that the Church can and should take in the community. Fosdick realizes that the creed is important only as a symbol of unity - and that the effectiveness of the Church must be judged by different standards from those of its theology. | >
> | With the recognition of the fact that church creeds are not searches for universal truth, we can understand better the function of churches in society. Preachers like Harry Emerson Fosdick preach realistically and effectively about the place that the Church can and should take in the community. Fosdick realizes that the creed is important only as a symbol of unity - and that the effectiveness of the Church must be judged by different standards from those of its theology. | | | This passage points to an interesting way of thinking about the usefulness of creeds in organizing for justice work. Creeds here are things that can be reflected on and "preached" in ways that unify, but avoid becoming totalizing ideologies that disconnect from the factual world.
Ethics and Incentives | | | However, like Fosdick, we can seek to leverage what agency we can muster to develop creeds that invoke, to borrow a phrase, "the better angels of our nature." Emphasizing an ethical frame that expresses its goal as seeking justice, rather than optimizing incentives, may not be good near-term politics but at least provides a means of motivating action when individual incentives run out. | |
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< | According to contemporary economists, people do not act in ways that do not maximize their utility. But history offer examples of people who have dedicated themselves to working for justice. In American history, John Brown and Martin Luther King Jr. come to mind. These types of examples, of humans struggling for justice rather than for their own gain, can serve as the basis of a justice-based creed to organize a climate movement. An incentives-based creed will not be to deal with the long, complex, and demanding task of supporting a global approach to climate change. | | | \ No newline at end of file | |
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> | According to contemporary economists, people do not act in ways that do not maximize their utility. But history offer examples of people who have dedicated themselves to working for justice. In American history, John Brown and Martin Luther King Jr. come to mind. Another interesting example is Richard Stallman, who has steadfastly resisted the replacement of the free software movement's justice creed with the incentives creed of open source. These types of examples, of humans struggling for justice rather than for their own gain, can serve as the basis of a justice-based creed to organize a climate movement. An incentives-based creed will not be to deal with the long, complex, and demanding task of supporting a global approach to climate change. |
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