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Re: people in Rowanda... Dinah, Gabbi-G, Phillipa

Posted by Estella on August 8, 2006, at 19:52:36

In reply to Re: people in Rowanda... Dinah, Gabbi-G, Phillipa » Estella, posted by Dinah on August 8, 2006, at 9:45:26

> The ills of Western civilization, I suppose.

oh. sorry, i guess i did go off on a tangent rather... i wasn't really trying to have a rant about that (though i guess i did - sorry about that) as i was trying to say that there are probably goods and ills in all societies and that we should be careful not to be culturally insensitive when we talk about the things that we need (or want) to be happy.

i was reminded of a conversation between wittgenstein and his student:

'for all our ills of modern society i'd still rather be living in modern society than as the caveman lived'

wittgenstein replied:

'yes, of course you would. but would the caveman?'

thats all i was trying to get at.

> I'm ok with discussing the pros and cons, I think there are both.

absolutely :-)

> But I don't want to go into whether medicalizing childbirth and reducing maternal deaths by over 99% and infant deaths by who knows how much is a good thing.

oh. well, of course i agree that

> reducing maternal deaths by over 99% and infant deaths by who knows how much is a good thing.

of course it is :-)

> I am opposed to the historical notion, however unspoken, that women are acceptable losses in the drive to propagate the species.

historical notion in which culture? in some cultures... women (historically) were revered.

> If your objections to Western civilization reach that far, I don't see much benefit in my continuing the discussion.

ah. they don't.

but with the benefits of medicalisation there are also harms.

with additional choices there are also freedoms that are lacking.

i agree that people are happier (in some very important sense of the term) when their basic needs are met.

but... there are people in developed nations who struggle to meet their basic needs (and sometimes don't get them met) - aren't there?

happiness is hard to measure...

there may also be cultural bias. westerners tend to be fairly obsessed with the 'pursuit of happiness'. i mean westerners in the very general sense. as such they are likely to self report greater happiness than say... people in japan who don't value the pursuit of happiness so much as they value contentment.

how happy are you on a scale of 1-5?

maybe... 3.5 is ideal.

depends on where you are from, perhaps perhaps.


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poster:Estella thread:674015
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