Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, April 25,1983
opinion
Whither does modern man go?
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-
part Reader’s Forum.
Modern Man is in a dilemma. Having
explored all of the possibilities for estab
lishing a set of values and absolutes by
which to guide his life and give it signifi
cance, modern man has concluded that
no meaningful absolutes or values exist.
God is dead and there is no one home in
the universe. Where should he, and we,
go from here? This article examines the
role of philosophy in our lives, traces its
flow over the last 3,000 years, and pre
dicts the outcome of our current philo
sophy.
A person’s philosophies, or presuppo
sitions, are important. Swiss philosopher,
Francis Schaeffer, says most people catch
their presuppositions like thay catch the
measles. Rather than carefully analyzing
the implications of a given set of values,
most people accept without question the
values and philosophies handed down by
their parents or peers.
• Most people who claim to believe in
- God do so because their parents did.
- They have neither taken time to consider
► the facts which support the notion that
• God exists nor the implications that such
.' a belief holds for their lives. We need to
.’ take a look at what we believe and make
sure that our presuppositions hold water.
A person’s actions are the result of his
habits, and a person’s habits are the result
of his philosophies. Schaeffer restates
this thought by claiming that people will
live more consistently on the basis of their
presuppositions, their basic “world
view,” than even they themselves may
realize. One’s presuppositions, basic
world view, or philosophies form the
foundation for one’s values and ultimate
ly the basis for one’s decisions. One’s pre
suppositions are the most important
aspects of one’s personality because allot
one’s personality (i.e. attitudes, values,
priorities, etc.) ultimately stems from
these presuppositions.
Not only do individuals have presup
positions which influence the way that
they behave, but societies as a whole also
hold to basic tenets which influence the
way that they behave. For example, most
of us here in the United States support a
capitalistic economy so we will continue
Reader’s
Forum
to have such a system until enough peo
ple become disenchanted with the system
and replace it with another. Our philo
sophies are the foundation of who we
are, both as an individual and as a group.
So far, I have tried to illustrate the
purpose and importance of philosophy
in our everyday lives. Now let us take a
look at how both individual and societal
philosophy have changed over the last
3,000 years.
First, it is important to understand
that all men have a basic, overwhelming
need. That is the need to feel important.
To feel significant. The desire for mean
ing and significance is as basic to an indi
vidual as the desire to survive.
Where can man find significance? To
what can man grasp that will give his life
and existence meaning? Plato under
stood that without absolutes, life can have
no meaning.
The Romans tried to build their
societal base upon their gods. But if you
are familiar with Roman mythology you
will recall that their gods were finite, not
infinite. They were amplified humanity,
not divinity. When their society began to
decay, the Romans turned to totalitarian
dictators who tried to legislate values and
morals. Both the Roman religious and
human gods failed.
Philosophical thought since the fall of
Rome has led to humanism, the belief
that man can find meaning and signifi
cance through himself. Man is the refer
ence point by which to understand the
universe. Prior to the 18th century, hu
manists were optimistic because they be
lieved that given enough time man would
eventually, through rationalism, estab
lish^ a unified field of knowledge that
would explain every event in the uni
verse. This optimism, however, has
turned to pessimism in the last 200 years.
Swiss philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rous
seau has told us whatever is allowed by
“nature” is good. We can find freedom
and meaning by doing whatever comes
“naturally.” Unfortunately, nature is
both cruel and non-cruel. What is “good”
for one person may produce a bad result
for another. For example, Rousseau
placed his five illegitimate children into
orphanages.
Wes Volberding is a senior accounting
major from Houston. Tuesday: The past
100 years.
Letters: Nuclear explanations
Editor:
I find it amusing the Scott Peng feels
he is so enlightened about nuclear power,
if he’s so smart — why is he still here? I
note that he doesn’t even have his own
“facts” (or logic) straight. He also failed to
produce any references for his “facts”,
something he requests of others.
He may be a nuclear engineering stu
dent, but he’s obviously not a doctor. Do
they teach him about food cycles, about
the thymus, and what radiation (high or
low level) does to these things? I doubt it.
I, too, am an engineering student, but
take the engineering part of the title se
riously — I read information written by
both sides of an issue and weigh the facts
with an open mind. Something I suggest
Mr. Peng and his associates do before
they ruin this planet.
The following are a few documented
facts:
FACT: Although “the containment
building is kept air-tight and pressurized
during reactor operation,” it was not dur
ing the clean-up of T.M.I. — Krypton 85,
Strontium 90 and radioactive iodine
were all vented to the atmosphere, e
Energy News Digest, March 27, 1981.
FACT: You can NOT prove a nega
tive postulate ( ... nuclear power to date
has produced zero casualties)! B.S. (1.)
There were at least 300 excess infant (age
0-1 year old) deaths that occurred within
the 10-mile zone of T.M.I. in the months
following the March 28, 1979 accident, r.
Ernest Sternglass, Professor Radiation
Physics, University of Pittsburgh Medical
School. (2.) Twenty-five out of 100 work
ers at a uranium mining and milling
operation in New Mexico died of lung
cancer within 30 years and an additional
45 had contracted lung cancer but had
not yet died, e reference 3a. (3.) Several
nuclear reactor facility employees
(approximately 3, I lost the material)
were killed when an explosion destroyed
a reactor in Idaho several years back,
their bodies were buried in lead caskets in
a nuclear waste dump e reference 3b..
More complete book titles, addresses,
and information are available for the
asking, I have no faulty welds or cracked
concrete to hide.
Erich Friend ’85
Editor’s note: This letter was accompa
nied by an article on nuclear power writ
ten by Erich Friend.
A good Ag
Editor:
I’m glad to find out that there are still
“Good Ags” who practice the honesty
and trustworthiness that has been a tradi
tion for more than a hundred years at
A&M. This fact was brought to light
when I was visiting my three sisters on
Parents’ Weekend. Although I had a
great time visiting with some old Corps
buddies and my sisters, the weekend was
somewhat spoiled when I realized that I
had misplaced my checkbook and some
credit cards.
Although losing a checkbook and cre
dit cards isn’t the most earth-shaking
problem, those of us who have ever lost
one know how frustrating and costly it
can be. My friends and co-workers had
convinced me that nobody would return
the lost items and I should prepare for a
loss.
Well, I got very lucky. Richard
Matera, a junior in Company B-2 found
my checkbook in the MSC on Sunday
afternoon. Richard was good enough to
mail it to me and I had it back in my
pocket by Tuesday afternoon. While I
was relieved; my wife and everyone else
were amazed. It certainly renewed our
faith in people, especially AGGIES.
I want to publicly thank Mr. Matera
for doing such a small, but very kind and
thoughtful deed. Thanks again, Richard!
Joseph A. Pearson ’80
Correction
A story in Friday’s Battalion about an
environmental design class’s projects in
correctly identified the home country of
a student. Guillermo Moreno is from
Panama. His partner on the project, John
Rogozinski, is from Guatemala. The Bat
talion regrets the error.
Slouch By Jim Earls 4
t<
“What do you mean, ‘what is it?’ It’s a snapshot of the sun
that I took; and it’s a rare photo, considering this spring’s
weather.”
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Business, business
even in nostalgia
by Art Buchwald
There was a lot of nostalgia about the
Falkland Islands war a few weeks ago.
The British celebrated, the Agrentines
mourned, and we were all treated to a
tour of the battleground by the TV net
works.
What wasn’t mentioned was that as
soon as hostilities ceased, the world’s
arms merchants descended on Argentina
to replenish the loser’s arsenal.
The French arrived first and said to
the Argentine military, “We’re sorry you
didn’t do as well as you expected, but the
good news is that we can sell you our
Exocet Missile again.”
“Where were you when we needed
you?” an Agrentine general wanted to
know.
“We couldn’t ship you the missiles
while the war was going on because we
didn’t want to upset Margaret Thatcher.
But now that things have quieted down,
we can sell you anything you want. Since
you demonstrated to other countries how
accurate our Exocet is, we’ll give you a
free one for every dozen you buy. But
you better act fast because we have a lot bf
countries standing in line for the missile.”
The Argentines put in their order im
mediately.
As soon as the French left, the West
Germans walked in. “We told you you
couldn’t win a war against the British if
you didn’t have enough sea power. If the
fight for the Malvinas proved anything,
it’s that your country needs a strong,
modernized Navy. West Germany is pre
pared to build Agrentina the most mod
ern ships on the high seas including first-
rate attack submarines. You’ll never be
militarily humiliated by England again.”
The Argentine military chief of staff
said, “I thought West Germany and
Great Britain were both members of
NATO.”
“NATO is NATO,” the Western Ger
mans told him. “Business is business.
Give us a billion dollars and we’ll turn
over four ships to you tomorrow.”
The Argentines signed the order,
mortgaged their grain crop fori ncomi
:cond
years.
Next came the Israelis, the Bel Jnven
and other Western arms salesmen B 50 °f
one left without an order.
A C(
ritical
ihite 1
eing h
ighto
Cab
:ge St;
lollege
y Del
Jeterso
Th.
Needles to say, the Pentagon was
when t hey heard about the arms sale J
had nothing to do with the faci: „ w e |
Argentina was getting back intosha[e in t o ;
take on the Brits again. It wasthatPii exas
dent Carter had imposed a mil pfety
embargo on Argentina becauseofit;
man rights abuses, and U.S. weapons
Dorters were left out in the cold,
porters were left out in the cold
The Pentagon dealers compl
the White House. “We’re losing
South American market to theFi
and West Germans. The Argentines;
committed to becoming a first-dass
ary power, and need our stuff todo
we don’t give them a waiver on
rights, we’ll have to close down
Buenos Aires store. Worse
Soviets might offer to supply then
the hi-tech equipment just so the
give the British a bloody nose.”
President Reagan, when info
that U.S. military equipment wasd
ing in Argentina, started pushing
gress to lift the embargo immedii
and promised he would cleal withthtl
man rights problem later.
In the meantime, private arms del
in Virginia assured the Argentines
could order any U.S. equipment
wanted through third countries,
would rather have the cash
The Argentines, according to re|
are now in hock up to their ears,bill;
soon be militarily stronger than they
ever been before. They are the fit
admit they couldn’t do it alone.
While most of the countries sup
Argentina with new weapons are
Britain’s closest allies, they haven't
any conditions on their sales, l 1
you’re a major arms-producingcon
it’s much more profitable not to
sides.
The Battalion
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