Die kleine Serie ‘Ein Essay für Freunde’ soll wöchentlich meinen Freunden ans Bein pinkeln und ihnen etwas polemisch ein bisschen Moral einprügeln. Hier kommt also die erste Angriffswelle zum übermässigen Fleischkonsum der Schweiz, wo 1kg Fleisch pro Kopf pro Woche gegessen wird und weitere 0.5kg direkt im Abfall landen.
Ein Essay für Freunde: 1. Fleischkonsum
June 22nd, 2010
Towards a general theory of action alienation
May 10th, 2010
In this entry I will try to formalise Marx’s theory of alienation into a general theory of action alienation and apply it to classified footage from the US army in Iraq that was released by Wikileaks on the 5. April 2010 (Anonymous 2010b). Read the rest of this entry »
Discussion of modernisation and dependency theory
April 22nd, 2010
This essay shall discuss two theories of development – modernisation and dependency theory (MT and DT). In this limited space, I shall narrow my analysis down to two of the staunchest representatives of each camp: Walt W. Rostow and André G. Frank. Also, because it is impossible to discuss their broad publications, I shall subject only the very core of their theories to scrutiny here. After (1) a quest for the shared assumptions of both theories, this account will discuss (2) Rostow’s idea of stages of economic growth (1959) and (3) Frank’s notion of development of underdevelopment (1966), both with their policy implications1. I will treat these mutually exclusive ideas as thesis and anti-thesis and shortly discuss (4) the direction into which a synthesis could go (and maybe has gone).
Social influences that made me a Christian
April 10th, 2010
This entry will reflect upon my personal experience joining the Catholic Church (I quit again two years ago) and what effect social influences had on my decision. To be clear: I do not accuse the wonderful people at my Church of any vile intentions or seek to taint their noble social work. I do however hope there is room for exploring a 15 year-old Swiss juvenile’s social environment for influences that might lead him to passive behaviour.
Structure, agency and female leg hair
April 1st, 2010
There is a structural constraint that affects nearly 50% of my friends and that I directly observe; it happens everywhere in Britain and all the time. The social structure of Britain today makes nearly one half of her population do something that one cannot explain otherwise. They do it with blades, with wax or with laser: they remove their leg hair. This removal of female leg hair is the norm, around 90% of women of child bearing age do it (Toerient & Wilkinson 2003, p. 333).
A call for religious moderation
March 21st, 2010
Much verbiage has been lost over whether ‘religion’ is good or bad, whether god exists or not, and whether science disproves god or not. Even though I make no secret out of my atheistic beliefs, I fundamentally disagree with the binary nature of the public debate. Is it not crucial to realise that a belief or disbelief in god does not force one to adhere to any group or share any particular characteristic? As much as I wish not being equated with Stalin, my Christian friends wish not being equated with crusaders and my Muslim friends not with suicide bombers. Neither religion nor atheism or agnosticism are ‘the root of all evil’, and similarly neither is the root of all good. How easily would world peace be achieved if we only had to uproot one.
A world view that postulates either as universally ‘better’ dropped a crucial ingredient during its construction – that is reality. We significantly underestimate our sisters and brothers’ power to think, feel and act freely if we hold that adherence to one particular belief or disbelief causes them to be immoral. Can we imagine our own selves turning into a violent fanatic just because of one belief or disbelief? If yes, do we not underestimate our own moral capacity? And if not, why should ‘the Others’ be different? Making a distinction between Us the Enlightened and Them the Ignorant seems to bear the stigma of arrogance for it is effectively saying our own belief is the only valid one. It claims certainty where there should be doubt.
And thus I conclude: Doubt is the ally of moderation and peace. War happens where people are certain.
Amartya Sen’s Development as Freedom – A Discussion
March 11th, 2010
‘Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principle means.’ – Amartya Sen (1999, p. 10)
Amartya Sen’s quote which I am to discuss in this paper stems from his work Development as Freedom, which has been described by The Economist as ‘a personal manifesto [and] a summing up’ (Anonymous 1999). A summing up of what?
Kopftücher und Beinhaare
January 28th, 2010
Ein Artikel in der NZZ hat mich angeregt, diesen Eintrag zu schreiben. Da wurde einer Basketballspielerin in Luzern verboten, mit Kopftuch Basketballmatches zu spielen.
Die ungefühlte Wirklichkeit
January 26th, 2010
Wir leben in einer Weltwirtschaft, was niemanden mehr überrascht. Wir fühlen aber weiterhin lokal, weil wir halt eben Menschen sind. So wird über einen Todesfall in der Nachbarschaft vielleicht monatelang geredet, über eine Schlammlawine mit mehreren Toten vielleicht zwei drei Wochen und über den Bürgerkrieg in Darfur im Sudan mit tausenden Toten gar nicht. Das Problem, das ich in diesem Essay aufzeigen möchte, ist, dass die Weltwirtschaft und die Technologie unser Handeln jeder Zeit mit der grossen Welt verbinden, wir den Konsequenzen unserer Taten aber unmöglich nachfühlen können.