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Freedom and Its Discontents
by Peter Marin
Peter Marin is no supporter of
psychology, arguing that psychology encourages selfishness and is oblivious
to history. Psychology urges us to spend ages thinking about ourselves merely
to accomplish the great goal of a flat inner life. It caters to wishful
thinking, overemphasizing platitudes and will power. A taste of Marin's skilled,
passionate prose: "Psychology is a scandal and a joke, a ritualized
ignorance maintained of catechisms of pain, self-justification, self-esteem,
dysfunction, addiction and other excuses that distract us from moral incumbency
and labor." (See. No straw person, at least not in this paragraph.)
Marin attributes many of the world's
flaws to secularism. The "pretense of unquestioned virtue" is common
among secular and avuncular individuals alike. Both, he argues, hold those who
do not believe, in contempt. Careful self-examination is anathema. Respect for
complexity and uncertainty is low. Almost all theories of human living are concocted
out of extremely thin air. Individuals of various opposing ideologies share the
similar belief that if it were not for their opponents, utopia would be on the
way.
The current world offers little that deeply satisfies, writes Marin, so we look for satisfaction in consumerism
or horrific ideologies. Marin claims no efforts to provide an
illuminating set of moral principles have been made, but he is mistaken. Many, many sets
of principles fill human minds.
He needs to look harder. Let's see.
There is fascism, hedonism, socialism, communism, neoconservatism,
scientism, luddism, techno-utopianism, multiculturalism, absolutism, objectivism,
communitarianism, paleoconservatism, status quo conservatism, radical feminism, parochial
liberalism, , ultra-liberalism, ultra-conservatism, evolutionary psychology,
self-help isms, postmodernism, relativism, neonationalism, nihilism, asceticism,
status quo liberalism, entertainment conservatism,
fundamentalism, populism, charisma cults, tribalism, egalitarianism,
info-salvationism, neoenvironmentalism, shallow wonkism, biocultural
determinism, neotraditionism, neopragmatism, gerontarianism, emotionalism, reductionism, cynicism, consumerism, so-called libertarianism, and paleolibertarianism among millions. What more could a person ask for? The efforts are there. The problem is good results are unlikely from the above. (Oh, wait. Marin said the word illuminating. Some have done that job, but those principles are in books rarely bought or checked out.)
Humans, Marin suggests, have a poor history
of teaching and discussing morality. The little discussion that exists is
loaded with ad hominem attacks and hostile reactions to the mere articulation
of a point. Many popular "moralities" are merely attempts to buttress
ease, habit, or desire. Any good set of moral principles should require us to
change as well as others. We preserve our innocence "by ignoring whatever
calls it into question... [w]hat we think, say and do affects the realities
others inhabit." He calls naive and arrogant arguments that claim power,
freedom, or futuristic optimism guarantee goodness. "Right and wrong have
not vanished but their deep moral context has. And so has the universe in which
people searched for the good and struggled with what they have done and what
they ought to do."
A good world
features much joy, gratitude, universality, reciprocation, freedom, generosity,
compassion, skepticism, adventurousness, self-examination, and awareness of the
importance and responsibility of our interactions with others, writes Marin. Resignation and
blind, passive hopes should be loathed.
On specific policy issues, Marin's arguments
are less than deft. Marin, apparently, favors some form of socialism. He notes
that all good things come from the "human harvest." Much of what he blames
on secularism could more accurately be blamed on socialism. He alleges that
welfare discriminates against men. One good point he makes is the homeless
problem was made worse when cities bulldozed skid rows.
Marin writes that we fail to
treat others as valuable ends. We also fail at matters of flesh, irony,
and laughter. Individuals renouncing their physical bodies, the physical
universe, or the development of their moral selves have
given up hope for a full human existence. Worth skimming.
—Book review article by J.T. Fournier, last updated June 29, 2009
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