THE IRON WIRE ON WHICH THE BEADS ARE STRUNG: Eve (mostly written on Friday)

So, sometime in 2004 I became convinced (mostly by Maggie) that same-sex marriage was a really bad idea. I wrote this series of posts to give a sense of where my head was at, why I'd taken up this position. Re-reading them, I find that I really would not frame things the same way now: What I said was true, and I still stand behind it, but I understand the issues differently now and see different kinds of linkages between the various ideas I discuss. (E.g. marriage as a shaper of identity; the role of mothers and fathers.) So I'd like to try to map out where my head has moved to, in this series of posts. There will definitely be stuff that's familiar to people who have followed this website; I hope that my rephrasing will be helpful nonetheless. This is long but not comprehensive--there's stuff I won't be addressing, generally because I don't have anything to say about it that I haven't said already.

The first thing I would start with is the question that motivates much modern political philosophy, and almost all science fiction: How much can we change about ourselves? Is there a human nature? If so, how malleable is it? If so, how much can we learn about its contours from history?

I have three premises on this subject. I won't be arguing for them here. My argument for them is, "Read a daggone book. Start with the Iliad and work your way up to Sabbath's Theater." Basically, this is stuff I see when I look at the world, at the cultures humans have created.

1. Yeah, there is a human nature. There's stuff you don't get to change. For example, you can't outlaw self-interest, or cure aggression. These facts aren't good, and they aren't bad; they're just there.

2. Men and women are different in ways that will always matter.

3. Biological kinship will always matter, both to parents and to children. Blood makes noise.

If you disagree with any of those premises, you will almost certainly disagree with what follows. (You might disagree anyway!) But I think it's worth stating them fairly baldly at the start.
posted by Eve at 12:39 AM | Link |

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