Learning:
The Journey of a Lifetime
A Cloud Chamber of the Mind

February 2006 Philosophy Notebook

An Example of a "Learning Process" Journal (using the 2 colored box format)

Book: The resident of Good & Evil

Source: Text Publishing, 2004.

This is the beginning of notes for a book that I purchased on March 11. I have now read the first section consisting of 5 chapters and want to make notes before beginning the remaining section.

5:20 am

Chapter 1 Introduction

• "No other president in living memory has spoken so often about good and evil, right and wrong." [p. 1]

  Two quick comments, more about the book than the first chapter. I am surprised that the book was published in 2004, yet this is the first that I have heard of it. I would have thought it would be popular, even in the United States, and would be a regular topic of discussion, at least among Democrats. I wonder if the fact that it was published in Australia rather than the US is a contributing factor. I view the book as more of a criticism of American academe than of Bush per se. Why have there not been more books like this?

PART I: BUSH"S AMERICA

Chapter 2 A Single Nation of Justice and Opportunity

• "A big cut in personal taxation was one of Bush's central campaign planks." [p. 14]
  
  
• "It is here, in Bush's ideas about taxation, that his distinctively American philosophy of government emerges most clearly." [p. 15]
  
  
• Singer focuses of Bush's campaign slogan of "It's your money!" to identify that a government should only return money to the public if it has a surplus after having met all of its needs and priorities have been met. He goes on to say that needs related to poverty and the disadvantaged could clearly have used more support.
  
  
• "Thus, if the budget is in surplus, whether the surplus should be used for a tax cut, or for meeting additional needs or priorities, is a matter of judgement. ... It is that judgement, not the simple slogan 'It's your money,' that decides whether there should or should not be a tax cut." [p. 17]

• "But the argument that people in rich countries earn by individual productivity, unaided by social capital, only a small proportion of their gross income, and that it may be legitimate to impose very high rates of tax, remains." [p. 20]

• "Bush also argued that the specific tax cuts he proposed were fair. ... Tens of millions of low-income Americans pay no income tax, but everyone who buys anything affected by sales tax is a taxpayer. These taxpayers get no tax relief under his plan." [p. 21 - 22]

• Singer makes an interesting point when he argues that it makes sense to consider the harm done by various policies (such as underfunding a policy) and then allocate additional funds to reduce areas of greatest harm.

Chapter 3 The Culture of Life

• This chapter is primarily about issues surrounding stem cell research, which is one of Singer's specialties as a professor of bioethics.
  
  
• "The embryo does not survive the removal of the stem cells. That is why the use of stem cells is ethically dubious for those who think that a human being has a right to life from the moment of conception." [p. 42]
  
  
• Singer points out that millions of embryos die each year as part of a natural process, and thus it is a weak argument to say that every embryo should be protected.
  
  
• Singer also points out that Bush appears to sanction only human life as there is large support for animal research programs.
  
  
• "If we rely on the bare claim that we are human and so should protect our own kind, we have no comeback against racists who maintain that they ought to protect their own kind." [p. 49]
  
  
• "If human life is more precious than non-human life, it is because humans possess higher mental capacities that non-human animals lack. Embryos, however, are utterly lacking in such higher mental capacities." [p. 50]
  
  
• "Since the law needs clear lines, and birth provides a clearer, more evident line than any other point which we might take to mark the moment when a right to life begins, there are grounds for making birth the point at which killing the developing human being becomes a crime." [p. 51]

• Singer also points out that Bush's hardline stance on capital punishment, and on the sanctioning of military operations that will include civilian casualities, is at variance with his stand on stem cell research.

Chapter 4 The Freest Nation in the World?

• "A president can hardly claim to be a supporter of the rights of states to run their own affairs if he only allows them to pass laws that he personally supports." (in connection with Oregon's 'right to die' legislation) [p. 83]
  
  
• "One aspect of the relationship between government actions and individual liberty is the extent to which governments protect or interfere with a realm of individual freedom for all their citizens." [p. 89]
  
  
• "The significance of the cases [Al Qaeda] lies in the Bush administration's decision to deprive American citizens of their liberty, indefinitely an without legislative authority or any possibility of judicial review." [p. 93]
  
  
• "He is, it seems, an advocate of absolute rights on some occasions, and of utilitarian arguments - of dubious quality - for overriding such rights on others. His views and actions on freedom and the limits to government lack any clear and consistent philosophical underpinning." [p. 106]

Chapter 5 The Power of Faith

• "Obviously [faith in Christianity] such an important part of Bush's life and beliefs, and one closely intertwined with his ethical views, is relevant to any inquiry into Bush's ethics. We also need to ask to what extent it is appropriate for the elected leaders of pluralistic societies to invoke their religious faith on official occasions, in speeches and radio broadcasts, and to use it as a basis for policy on issues that affect others in the community who do not share their beliefs." [p. 108]
• "In the American media, the big issue about religion and politics that Bush's presidency has raised is whether state funding of faith-based charities, a key part of Bush's compassionate conservativism social agenda, breaches the constitutional barrier against establishing a religion." [p. 110]
• "Bush here presents a picture of a man who accepts what he is told without asking himself any critical questions about it." [p. 115]
• "Bush's faith ... may make him more certain that he is right than he should be." [p. 117]
• "Faith cannot tell us who is right and who is wrong, because each will simply assert that his or her faith is the true one. In the absence of a willingness to offer reasons, evidence or arguments for why it is better to do one thing rather than another, there is no progress to be made." [p. 118]
• "But morality does not have to be religious in order to be real and important." [p. 130]

7:05 am