[PEN-L:2473] Re: The V-word

[blairs@xxxxxxxxxxx (Blair Sandler)]

At 5:06 AM 1/19/96, Terrence  Mc Donough wrote:
>Blairs last post was an accomplished and eloquent rant if rant it
>was.  It raises three substantive issues: is the human economy
>properly understood as a subsystem of the natural ecology; does the
>human economy "compete" with the natural ecology and can the
>precautionary principle I proposed be understood primarily as an
>argument concerning externalities....

(I suppose if I'm going to rant at least I'd like my rants to be considered
accomplished and eloquent, so thanks for the compliment, Terry.)

I started writing what has already become a long response to Terry's
thoughtful comments, when I realized that I don't think I have time right
now for the level of careful thought it would require. As I read and
re-read Terry's post in the process of writing my initial reaction, I
realized it was more complicated and I less certain than at first thought.
I wanted not to argue just for argument's sake, but to try to contribute to
a discussion, since Terry and I apparently agree on quite a lot; in
particular, the political implication which is the precautionary principle
(at minimum, the preservation of current levels of biodiversity). Terry
called this a bedrock principle.

All the material about separating humans from nature (on which point Terry
waffled) is more involved and I guess I just don't have the energy for it
at this point. In particular, whether and if so how this is related to
externality discourse is a longer discussion, one that is always near my
thoughts, but which I can't get to right now. So I think I'll just let
Terry's recent comments pass as the last word on the subject, at least as
far as I'm concerned, and for the moment.

With respect for Terry's ability to forcefully and persuasively articulate
his positions,

Blair Sandler