Fritjof Capra: aggressors self-destroy, making way for cooperators

At 10:13 12/08/99 -0500, paula willoquet wrote:
> … some thoughts I've been having …
> …
>To answer David's question about whether I see our "goal" as striving to
>fit in as part of nature, YES. I think that is what the DE platform is
>trying to accomplish and I am glad David Orton reminded us of the platform
>and shared with us the actions he is taking LOCALLY. Translating the
>platform into action requires some interpretation, naturally. …    
>I think our factory model of food production is horrific, both of meat
>production and of produce. But I am not ideologically opposed to "killing"
>plants and animals for food. Again, question of degree, method, attitude.
> …
>I think it is important to explore our beliefs, and personally I cannot
>separate them from the "facts" provided by science, for example. Science
>itself is driven by beliefs -- scientists have beliefs, don't they,
>particularly the belief that they must be objective and leave their
>beliefs aside. I share the attitude toward science expressed by some here:
>the "for hire" aspect of science has been there from the very beginning 
> -- read Bacon and Decartes. There is interesting reading out there
>about how scientific consensus came about … So, in general, I 
>am a critic of "science" although I think the science of ecology 
>has been vital in helping change our world view. I was 
>very inspired by the writing of Fitjof Capra, for example. 
> …
>
>Ok, you won't hear from me for a while....maybe. 
>Paula.
>
[elsewhere, Paula wrote: ]
Darwinian and post-Darwinian science initiated the de-centralization of
humanity, both in relation to a hypothetical evolutionary "path," and in
relation to all other life-forms. It … helped undermine the idea of a
progressive and cumulative development by accepting the notion that
evolution occurs over both periods of stability and periods of dramatic
transitions. Neo-Darwinian theories of evolution also enlarged Darwin's
concept of adaptation to mean co-adaptation between organisms and their
environment. The nineteenth-century model of evolution as competitive is
replaced with a cooperative model that emphasizes co-adaptation and
symbiosis. "The recognition of symbiosis as a major evolutionary force has
profound philosophical implications," notes Fritjof Capra. "All larger
organisms, including ourselves, are living testimonies to the fact that
destructive practices do not work in the long run. In the end the
aggressors always destroy themselves, making way for others who know how to
cooperate and get along" (Web of Life, p.243). This is, I believe, time and
time again, the message behind all of Greenaway's films; it is the very
reason for the deaths of most of his male protagonists. They, and the
society in which they operate, are uncooperative and unadaptive. Their
relations are founded on competition rather than collaboration.

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sent on by David.
(David MacClement) d1v9d @ bigfoot.com (remove nospam spaces)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3142/Pg1-AD11.html#top
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