Your reply of 24 May to my 'involved' posting flatters me more than it
deserves. I'm still working at clarifying my thoughts, although they're
complicated ny trying to do two things at once, viz. deal with justice and
tidy up the PCP theoretical framework.
One thing, though. You say:
>I guess I started with the thought that one's construing can be unsubtle
>when survival is at stake and one's bereft of the luxury of living in the
>relatively stable, predictable, and secure environment which we associate
>with a more-or-less * free and just society;
etc.
I concur. Having 'just - unjust' as a core construct is a luxury when one
struggles to make a living in adverse circumstances (if 'adverse' is
adequate to describe drought, crop failure, typhoon & so on). My immediate
thought on reading this was of a (for me) memorable passage in T.H. White's
'The Sword in the Stone' recounting part of the Wart's experience as a
goose. In this he meets a female goose who expounds on sharing. She
doesn't. What she finds for food she defends for herself and expects no
more of the other members of the gaggle. For the goose, 'just - unjust'
works the opposite way round than for 'civilised' humans. A lot of the
point of the book is about the getting of wisdom and I recommend it heartily
to those younger members among us who may know it only from the Disney film
- which, incidentally, I think is great. Read it, read the trilogy!
Cheers,
Bill.
Bill Ramsay,
Dept. of Educational Studies,
University of Strathclyde,
Jordanhill Campus,
GLASGOW,
G13 1PP,
Scotland.
'phone: +44 (0)141 950 3364
'fax: +44 (0)141 950 3367
e-mail: w.ramsay@strath.ac.uk
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