Oxford University Press's Blog, page 472

Against narrowness in philosophy

If you asked many people today, they would say that one of the limitations of analytic philosophy is its narrowness. Whereas in previous centuries philosophers took on projects of broad scope, today’s philosophers typically deal with smaller issues. Their interest is to consider a few problems and to examine them in detail. The result is that many philosophers tend to work in a few fields and to avoid the breadth of philosophy’s historical forebears.

While this is true of many philosophers today this isn’t true of them all. A good example of this is the philosopher Philip Kitcher, whose work covers an impressive range of subjects. He is one of the few philosophers capable of and interested in working in a number of areas.

Kitcher’s early interests included work in mathematics. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1969 at Cambridge University, focusing on mathematics and the history and philosophy of science. After this, he left for the graduate program in philosophy at Princeton University. He graduated from there in 1974 also with a focus on the history and philosophy of science.

Photo of Philip Kitcher by Patricia Kitcher. Used with permission.

In his early research he examined issues with the sciences. Growing alarmed at the rise of a series of books defending “scientific creationism,” Kitcher published his first book in response. Abusing Science: The Case against Creationism attempts to show the problems with scientific creationism. He explains how the views presented by the creationists whither once we properly understand the notions of scientific evidence, evolutionary theory, and other concepts. This early work revealed his interests in science and evolutionary theory.

Kitcher’s second book was devoted to the philosophy of mathematics. In The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge, he presents his understanding of mathematical knowledge. Following the empiricist John Stuart Mill, he argues that mathematics had its origin in our ancestors’ perceptual experiences and became extended through a sequence of rational transitions to other parts of mathematics. This account of mathematical knowledge was unique in its approach to the subject.

After this Kitcher wrote several works on issues in the sciences. This included work on the notion of scientific explanation and issues concerning the biological sciences. For instance, there are a number of concepts in biology of interest to philosophers (“function,” “altruism,” “biological determinism”) and Kitcher wrote a series of articles addressing them. Aside from his interest in understanding these areas of biology, Kitcher also made clear that he was interested in general aspects of science. In his book The Advancement of Science, he provides a general account of science and how it develops. This work was written in response to the views of Thomas Kuhn and others who challenged the traditional conception of scientific knowledge. Where Kuhn had argued that science isn’t as rational as it is presented to be in the history books, Kitcher demurred. Agreeing with Kuhn that the history of science is more complex than is often recognized, he rejects Kuhn’s more radical suggestions. Offering his own account of scientific development Kitcher claims that science is an imperfect but still largely rational endeavor. What is needed is to see that the social aspects of science do not undermine its rationality.

These are the areas for which Kitcher is previously well known. As his work has developed, though, it has taken on new directions.

In his later work he came to emphasize the role of social issues in science. Denying that science is an autonomous discipline, he urges that it should be responsive to the societies in which it figures. His Science in a Democratic Society discusses the nature of science in democracies. He suggests we need to consider the ways that science is situated in societies, since we cannot come to a proper understanding of the aims of science without considering its broader social significance.

In addition is Kitcher’s interest in ethics. He provides a detailed account of the historical origins and justification of our moral evaluations in The Ethical Project. Integrating his interest in evolutionary studies and ethics, he argues that our moral evaluations do not require religious backing or appeal to faculties of ethical perception. These evaluations are extensions from the ordinary practices of human beings as they come collectively to work out their differences in society.

These works would have been sufficient to make Kitcher—often seen as a philosopher of science—viewed as a broader figure, but Kitcher’s work has continued in other directions. Interested in the nature of human experience, he went on to discuss aspects of literature in Joyce’s Kaleidoscope: An Invitation to Finnegans Wake, including issues concerning the meaning of life. And in Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner’s Ring (with Richard Schacht), Kitcher explains the significance of Wagner’s opera and how it should be interpreted. These works extend beyond anything Kitcher is usually associated with in the field and show the range of his concerns.

In some respects, there is something true in the claim that many philosophers exhibit a certain narrowness. But it should be apparent by now that Kitcher isn’t one of them. His wide ranging interests reveal him to be a broader, and more interesting, figure than one commonly finds.

Featured image: Colour-composite image of the Carina Nebula by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. 

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A Flame as a Moth: How I began chronicling the life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr., Part 2

On 27 August we shared the early stages of Marc E. Epstein’s process in documenting the unconventional entomologist, Harrison G. Dyar. Below, Marc continues his story, discussing Dyar’s family tree, and the events that led him to his present research on Dyar.

I joined the staff in the Smithsonian’s Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History in 1992, at the time Pam Henson and I published “Digging for Dyar: The Man Behind the Myth”. Having stayed in Washington, DC long enough to complete the article, my job at the Museum would give me roughly a dozen years to accumulate information on Dyar, while performing other duties.

“Digging for Dyar” caused a stir in the entomology community and beyond. This led to several Smithsonian lectures and banquets for scientist groups, including entomological societies. Associated Press interviewed us about Dyar, and they carried a photograph of three youngsters from the Curd family taken when the Dupont Circle tunnel collapsed in the 1950s, years after Dyar’s death. The photo drew the attention of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and it was included on the Weekend Update segment.

Notebooks, oral histories, photographs

Some of Dyar’s field rearing notebooks, including the tiny, original “blue book” and unpublished illustrations showing the variation in a species of button slug caterpillar found on chestnut. Image Credit: Office of the Smithsonian Archives, used with permission.

Soon after I was hired by the museum, Dyar’s 25 caterpillar notebooks found their way into my office, giving me more opportunity to study his beautifully drafted illustrations and paintings of caterpillars, including those showing variable patterns in limacodids, and his detailed descriptions and measurements of their life histories. Names of his sister, aunts, an uncle, and friends, all who helped Dyar collect or find caterpillars adorned the notebooks.

Pam and I conducted oral history interviews with Dyar’s last surviving son Wallace Dyar, who provided us with timeless anecdotes of growing up playing in the tunnels and living across from the National Mall. Among the most humorous was an account of his father getting caught stealing bricks to be used for arched tunnel entrances. It was also Wally that alerted us to a collection of his father’s papers that were being sold by a cousin in a New Market, VA bookstore. They were in demand because they contained letters from George Freeman Pollock, Wellesca’s brother, who was an important part of the early history of Skyland, which became part of Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s. Fortunately, Pam was able to have the Smithsonian Archives purchase nearly all of them. Among the papers were over 100 of Dyar’s mostly unpublished short stories.

Genealogy and building sandcastles by the sea

Dyar building a sandcastle for his son Otis on the eastern seaboard ca. 1902. Image Credit: Photograph by the Handy Family, used with permission. Caterpillar by Marc E. Epstein, used with permission.

I moved to Sacramento, California for a research job for the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 2003. I continued to make discoveries about Dyar on yearly visits to the Smithsonian as a Research Associate. Other important pieces of the Dyar puzzle awaited me in California because the scientist was divorced in Oakland and his son Otis had become a part of a family that kept photographs of Dyar, his wife Zella, and the children. Previously, all I had to show in terms of Zella was a photograph of the moth he named for her. Just when I thought I had found all the evidence to prove how special my moth specialty, Limacodidae, was to Dyar, more awaited. Two photographs of Dyar and his young son Otis taken at a beach in the northeast United States show where Dyar’s mind was: he built a sand castle by the sea that accurately depicts a limacodid caterpillar!

During a visit to DC that included the Library of Congress’s family genealogy section I uncovered letters from many of Dyar’s relatives and a close friend: all previously known to me from Dyar’s notebooks as having helped collect for him in his youth. As I went through Dyar’s meticulous genealogy notes, I saw family trees from the early 1900s done in the same style as those for his New York slug caterpillars a few years earlier. Dyar used similar precision to construct his Dyar Family Tree as that of his Limacodidae family. Not only that, but in 1926 and 1927, he rather cryptically named limacodids for Zella and other important women in his life. By cryptically, I mean that he didn’t say whom they were named for. However, the myriad of clues stitched together about the favored status of limacodid moths leaves little doubt that he named them and a related megalopygid moth for his mother Nora, daughter Dorothy (using her nickname Bertha), aunts Parthenia and Ruth, and cousin Gertrude.

Dyar’s genealogies: New York Slug Caterpillars (left, by the New York Entomological Society and used with permission) and the Dyar family (right, by the Library of Congress and used with permission).

Good timing

Ultimately, the connections between Dyar’s favorite moth family, the Limacodidae, and his own family, including his wives, would not have come to fruition had it not been for a Smithsonian Historian’s willingness to collaborate and nurture my interest in Dyar, our seizing the moment to interview Dyar’s last surviving son and eldest grandchildren (all now deceased), and just plain good timing.

Featured image credit: Depictions of button slug caterpillars from Dyar’s notebooks from the Office of the Smithsonian Archives. Used with permission.

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Olympic swimmers meet Latin America’s vast gray area of private security

During the closing week of the Rio games, the biggest story was not about the pool, the mat, or the track but rather about the after-game party . . . and the after-party mess. As of Friday morning, the next-to-last day of the games, the home page of the New York Times was carrying headlines for five separate articles concerning the event. Clearly, the events that unfolded when the swimmers arrived at the gas station as well as the interviews given by American medalist Ryan Lochte, fit some powerful stereotypes about Brazilian (in)security and American hedonism and hubris. Many Brazilians were understandably angry with what appears to have been yet another example of Americans treating their country—as one knowledgeable American put it—“like a third-rate spring break destination where you can lie to the cops and get away with it.” But one aspect of the story that was completely ignored is the fact that the actions of Lochte and the security officer cast light on Latin America’s colossal investment in private security.

Private security has grown everywhere. A 2011 report by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey estimates that there are upwards of 20 million private security officers employed worldwide—a number that is higher than the global total of public (i.e. government-paid) police officers. Brazil, which has invested heavily in public policing in recent years, has a ratio that is closer to 1:1 private-to-public security officers. But the same report found that compared with the rest of the world, private security officers in Latin America are much more likely to be armed. Thus, Lochte’s account of the private security officer “brandishing a weapon” was not disputed by the Brazilian authorities. In fact, as anyone who has traveled widely in Latin America can attest, a gun (often a BIG gun) is one of the most recognizable attributes of a private security officer. Not just his uniform, but his weapon, tell you not to break the law in his presence. Indeed, the image of a uniformed man standing at the entrance to a coffee shop (like the one below, taken by me outside a Guatemalan coffee shop) is often one of the images that most jolts American tourists in the region.



An armed security guard stands guard outside an upscale Cafe Barista in a busy shopping center in Guatemala City. The Small Arms Survey estimates that there are six private security officers for every public police officer in Guatemala. Photo by Robert Brenneman, used with permission.

So why this massive investment in armed private security? The most obvious and oft-cited culprit is neo-liberal economic policies. That is, in an effort to reduce the size of government and lower taxes, citizen security has become yet another formerly-public service that is increasingly “out-sourced” to the private sector as a commodity. There is surely some truth to this explanation but it fits better in some countries than others. For example, El Salvador has been steadily increasing the number of uniformed National Police officers but there is little if any evidence that this measure has stemmed demand for private security contracts. (The homicide rate there is currently at its highest point ever and the highest in the hemisphere.) Thus, insecurity, rather than simply disinvestment, is an important factor contributing to the regional rise in armed private security. The fact that Latin America is the only region in the world that saw a measurable increase in lethal violence during the last two decades according to a 2011 World Bank report by James Fearon reveals that Latin American governments’ “provision” of security has not kept up with demand.

Other analysts point to a recent history of civil war and to the availability of small arms, especially for those societies located in relative proximity to the small arms bazaars of the southern United States. Both of these factors also play a role, particularly in incentivizing the issuance of firearms to private officers. And we could name other important historical factors such as the rise of transnational gangs in Central America and Brazil, the growth of the drug trade across the Mesoamerican isthmus, and endemic corruption in the judicial structures across much of the region.

But all of these factors, important though they may be, point to the existence of strong demand for private security. In reality, however, supply-side factors have also played a role. In Guatemala City, where I currently live and conduct research, one can see evidence of a bustling private security sector in which firms compete and promote their services in ways that cannot help but goose public demand. Take for instance the billboard my son (a die-hard Lego fan) pointed out to me yesterday in the car ride home from school.



Photo of billboard by Robert Brenneman, used with permission.

To the right, an image of a fallen Lego cop with a broken arm (who is being pursued by what is either a villain or perhaps a private security officer running to his aid) the text reads: “Your security is NOT a toy.” Beneath the image is the company logo for Sion, which is the Spanish translation for Zion, the capital of the Israelites of the Hebrew Scriptures. Although this particular firm is of recent vintage, having been officially founded in 2010, since the 1980s, the most well-known private security companies in Guatemala have had Israeli-inspired names such as “Grupo Golan” and “Servicios Israelis de Seguridad.” According to a well-researched study by Otto Argueta, some of Guatemala’s oldest and most expensive firms were founded by Israeli and American intelligence personnel who had provided training and intelligence services during the war. The presence of these foreigners as well as an abundance of retired military officers with intelligence-gathering knowledge and networks, contributed to a large supply of competing security firms in the post-war era. Similarly, an oversupply of unemployed and under-employed men in Guatemala and throughout the region, allow private security companies an inexpensive labor market from which to draw their rank-and-file officers.

Which brings us back to the gas station in Rio, where an off-duty prison guard, moonlighting as a rent-a-cop to scrape together some extra income in a difficult economy, came face-to-face with a drunken Olympic medalist with dreams of starring in a reality show. Faced with a belligerent, unrepentant vandal, the Brazilian guard pulled out his weapon — the one thing that he must have thought might bring some order to a chaotic and frustrating situation. But at that point he entered even more fully the vast gray area of law enforcement created by private security’s epic rise. Was he “impersonating” a police officer or simply doing his best to keep the peace? Was the monetary exchange extortion or repayment for damages? Surely it depends not merely on what the law says but on the cultural and political underpinnings of the term “police officer.” One thing is for certain: Ryan Lochte’s “reality show” is just getting started.

Featured image credit: “Security camera” by Ervins Strauhmanis. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr. 

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Ten underappreciated philosophers of the Islamic World [timeline]

The philosophical contribution of Islamic culture often goes unacknowledged, and when it is recognized, it is often reduced to a discussion of Islamic influence on European philosophy, especially in the medieval period. In this timeline, Peter Adamson, author of the History of Philosophy series, highlights ten underappreciated figures of the Islamic world, during and well beyond the medieval era.

Featured image: Iranian glazed ceramic tile work, from the ceiling of the Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran. Province of Fars. Photo by Pentocelo. CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. 

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10 facts worth knowing about the U.S. women’s rights movement

Today, 26 August, is Women’s Equality Day which commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote. This day reflects the culmination of a movement which had begun in the 1830’s when rising middle-class American women, with an increasing educational background, began to critique the oppressive systems of the early 19th century. In honor of this day, we decided to put together some interesting facts about the origins of the women’s rights movement. This list will give you a better understanding of how the movement originated, and what supported its development.

1. The emergence of a women’s rights movement was delayed but not derailed by the conservative ideology of “republican motherhood.” Exponents of republican motherhood believed that the republic’s urgent need for virtuous male citizenry dictated an educational role for mothers, who would exert their influence within the home. Thus, it indirectly expanded female education, and as young women enrolled in academies in the early republic, they participated in public culture, where they learned “to stand and speak” in ways that set the groundwork for later activism.

2. The Second Great Awakening, which changed the teachings, tenor, and institutional structures of Protestant Christianity, helped support the ideological foundation of the women’s rights movement. During this time, women were recast as more spiritual, more pious, and less sexual than men.

3. The rise of the middle class, the employment of domestic servants, and the decrease in family size (1760-1820) played an important role in the women’s rights movement. It freed up the critical time they needed to devote to fighting for rights, instead of doing onerous house work all day.

4. Rising female literacy rates in northern states in the 1830s and 1840s were fundamental to the movement. Literacy provided a means for rebellious individuals to express their thoughts and communicate to others on a wide scale. Abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in his famous essay “Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?” argued that with the rise of literacy the fight for women’s rights was inevitable.

5. The women’s rights movement found its roots in abolitionism. When abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimke faced criticism for speaking out in public (as it was against social customs and church teachings), they saw parallels between the slaves’ situation and their own. In response, the Grimke sisters began to make the argument that both women and men are created equal by God and are entitled to equal rights.

“Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848 with two of her three sons” by the Library of Congress. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

6. Abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Frederick Douglass supported the women’s rights movement and publicized their cause.

7. The early women’s rights movement was solely confined to northern states, due to its abolitionist origins. At the time, slaveholding southerners mocked the women’s rights movement and claimed it was “a symptom of northern degeneracy.”

8. Some upstate New York farm women actually petitioned for the ballot before the Seneca Falls Convention. Their rhetoric suggests that women’s rights were being talked about before the Seneca Falls convention, which is popularly marked as the start of the women’s rights movement.

9. A wide range of grievances were articulated at the Seneca Falls Convention, though the right to vote was highlighted as the most radical of all demands. In fact, Stanton proposed the right to vote against the advice of others and that carried only with the help of Frederick Douglass’s endorsement who was also in attendance. As Douglass pointed out, the vote was the most fundamental right, the guarantor of all other rights.

10. The women’s rights movement became a women’s suffrage movement, and by 1877, it had made some faltering progress. Women won the right to vote for the first time in two jurisdictions, Wyoming Territory in 1869 and Utah Territory in 1870. However, with the “New Departure” decision of 1875, the Supreme Court rejected women’s fundamental right to vote. It was not until 45 years later with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920 that women had finally won their national right to vote.

Featured image credit:  “Suffragists Parade Down Fifth Avenue, 1917” by The New York Times. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

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Fascinating facts about man’s best friend

Dogs have historically performed many roles for humans, such as herding, protection, assisting police, companionship, and aiding the handicapped. The tale of “man’s best friend” is a lengthy and intimate history that has lasted for thousands of years, and transcends modern cultural boundaries. Canines appear as poignant characters with symbolic meaning in mythological stories, famous works of art, and religious texts.

As you snuggle up to your own furry best friend, discover more about the cultural history of dogs via the ten facts below:

It is likely that dogs were the first species of animal to be domesticated by humans. In North America, evidence suggests that dogs were present among the first human colonizers of the continent, and were used to assist with hunting as early as 10,000 BCE.
Dogs are initially descended from the miacis, a mammal that inhabited tree tops 40 million years ago. A more recent and familiar ancestor is the wolf. Today, dogs exist in approximately 400 different breeds, both wild and domesticated.
For over thirty centuries, dogs have been a significant figure in Celtic mythology across a variety of contrasting contexts. Their numerous roles can be generally summarized in terms of healing, hunting, or death.
A dog’s own saliva has remarkable healing properties, and for this reason it is often helpful when they lick their own wounds.
When they appear in Early Christian artwork, dogs are most often regarded as a friend of man or symbol of fidelity. One notable example of this symbolic role as applied to a marital bond may be found in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Marriage, today housed in London’s National Gallery.

Dogs playing. Photo by Chiemsee2016. CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay.

Domini canes – a pun involving the Latin name for the Dominican Order of Preachers, Dominicanes – is taken to mean watch-dogs of the Lord. They appear in various artworks as black and white dogs, parallel with the colors of the Dominican habit, often guarding a flock of sheep.
In the Bible, dogs are generally seen as destructive and violent. The Jews in the New Testament saw them as unclean scavengers and thus used the term ‘dog’ as a derogatory word by which to reference the Gentiles.
In traditional Islamic contexts, dogs are considered impure and unclean. A hadith even declares that anything or anyone to come in contact with a dog’s saliva must undergo a thorough ritual cleaning. However, the dog is referenced on five occasions in a positive manner within the Quran.
According to English Folklore, dogs are able to sense eerie or unsettling circumstances and when they howl unprompted, it is an indicator of death or evil nearby.
More dogs are named in the works of Shakespeare than any other kind of animal. These include the hunting dogs and the spirits that appear in the shape of a dog, as well as a few pets. The term ‘dog’ also appears frequently as an insult throughout many of his plays.

Featured image credit: Man’s best friend. Photo by HomeSpotHQ. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

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10 interesting facts about criminal justice

Why are young offenders treated differently? Why can’t prisons be the answer to each and every single crime? And what is the best way to ensure an easy transition for offenders that are about to be released? Julian Roberts, author of Criminal Justice: A Very Short Introduction, tells us the top 10 things everyone should know about criminal justice, and what the chances and limitations of the Western system are.

The components of criminal justice include police, prosecution, judiciary, prisons, probation, and parole.
The criminal justice system has multiple and often conflicting objectives: the interests of the victim have to be balanced with the due process rights of the defendant, the broader public interest, as well as considerations of cost effectiveness.
Preventing crime is at least as important as punishing offenders. The three kinds of situational crime prevention, like robbing a bank, involve increasing the effort that offenders must spend to commit a crime, increasing the risk of detection and reducing the rewards gained by criminal behaviour, for example by lowering the amount of cash held in a facility.
The key principles that guide the practice of criminal justice in Western nations include that criminal prosecution should remain a last resort, that criminal justice interventions should be the minimal response necessary (i.e. if a warning is sufficient, don’t send the offender to prison), and that the severity of the sentence should increase as the crime becomes more serious.
Of all crimes, only about 10 per cent are reported to the police. Reasons for that include that the crime was not that serious, it is felt that the police can’t do anything about it or that the victim is worried of not being believed
There are several different ways to punish an offender: financial penalties, community-based punishment (i.e. imprisonment), community service, a curfew, and a residence requirement, among others.
A suspended prison term is especially effective with young or first time offenders as the mere threat of punishment is often sufficient.
The judicial response to crime varies greatly from one society to another, even though the crime rates are similar. In Holland, for example, imprisonments account for about 7 per cent of all sentences imposed, whereas in the US about 70 per cent of sentences involve custody.
We expect our prisons to punish and to rehabilitate – we want offenders to come out as better people. But even if offenders had a change of mind after getting out of prison, their criminal record sticks with them forever and their employment prospects are greatly diminished, worsening the chances to lead a fulfilled life.
In England, it costs about £38,000 ($60,000) per year to house one prisoner. For this reason alone it is important to ensure that no-one is sent to prison unless it is absolutely necessary.

Featured image credit: Alcatraz by Jeffry. CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr.

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Remembering John Muir on the centennial of the National Park Service

This year, Americans celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act. The bill culminated decades of effort by a remarkable generation of dedicated men and women who fought to protect the nation’s natural wonders for the democratic enjoyment of the people.

The greatest of these passionate parks advocates was John Muir, “Father of the National Parks.” Muir was a naturalist and activist who wrote over 300 articles and a dozen books. In these works, he sang the praises of parks and other special natural places and called for their protection from commercial exploitation. His words still speak to us as the National Parks system enters its second century and remind us of his spirit and his principles.

Earlier this summer, my son and I backpacked for five days in Yosemite National Park. No place is more closely linked to Muir than Yosemite Valley. Overwhelmed by its beauty on his first visit in 1868, he lived in the valley for 11 years, beginning in 1869. In these years, he gained national recognition as a naturalist and nature writer. In 1880, he married, became a fruit-grower in Martinez, raised a family—and stopped writing.

“John Muir Cane” by Francis M. Fritz. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

At this point in his life, Muir had done little to earn the title “Father of the National Parks.” In 1864, four years before he ever saw it, Yosemite Valley was given by Congress to California as a park. Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, was established in far-off Wyoming in 1872, when Muir was still relatively unknown.

Muir’s career took a dramatic turn in 1889, when Robert Underwood Johnson arrived in California. Johnson was the crusading editor of Century magazine and he was looking for West Coast authors. In particular, he wanted to get Muir writing again. The two men went camping in the Sierra. Disturbed by overgrazed mountain meadows and abused forests, they planned a campaign for an enlarged federal park in Yosemite. Muir wrote the articles describing the proposed park that Johnson published in Century, while Johnson pulled strings in Washington. Simultaneously, other advocates were promoting a park to protect the Sierra’s ancient sequoia trees. In 1890, the two campaigns achieved the first major expansions of the parks with the creation of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park.

“John Muir, Washington Column” by Francois Matthes. Public domain via Yosemite Online.

Johnson urged Muir to form an association to protect the new parks from destructive commercial interests. Muir co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892, which remains one of the nation’s oldest and most influential environmental organizations. Johnson further encouraged Muir to write books to swell public appreciation for the parks. Muir set to work writing The Mountains of California (1894), Our National Parks (1901), and The Yosemite (1912). They did not simply extol the nation’s parks. More importantly, these books called for better parks management and for protection for the nation’s other natural wonders.

Muir’s work ignited demand for further extension of the national park system. His 1901 Our National Parks only had three parks to cover. By 1916, when the National Park Service was established, there were 14. Sadly, Muir had died two years earlier, but he had already secured his title as “Father of the National Parks.” His friend and mentor Johnson remarked, “Muir’s writings and enthusiasm were the chief forces that inspired the movement. All other torches were lighted from his.”

Now, one hundred years later, the commercialism that Muir fought so hard against is pushing harder than ever into the National Parks. Underfunded by Congress, the National Park Service courts corporate sponsors. A private concessionaire quietly trademarked iconic national park names and is demanding millions of dollars for the use of “Yosemite National Park,” “Ahwahnee Hotel,” and other names it had no role in creating. Anti-government ideologues and robber barons push to privatize the National Parks or devolve them to the states.

Nowadays, you sometimes hear that Muir is no longer relevant in the twenty-first century. Yet, as long as we continue to respect and protect the national parks he loved, his legacy will live on. Let us also endeavor to light our torches from Muir’s and keep the light bright for future generations to enjoy.

Featured image credit: “YOSEMITE” by TVZ Design. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

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Building community: lessons from swimming

What would be the impact if our current policy to insure safety and prevent drowning were to pay people to swim with each swimmer? No one could go swimming unless they had a paid professional, or paraprofessional, swim with them. Our present policy in human services and mental health is kind of like paying people to insure the safety and well-being of others. This orientation drives us to create or expand services to meet the needs of people and is dependent on considerable economic resources i.e. money. But, what if there was another way that insured people’s safety and cost relatively little money? Many people who have taken swimming lessons, whether from the American Red Cross, YMCA, or any organized institution, will know the term “buddy.” The “buddy system” is widely accepted as essential to safeguard against drowning.

As stated by the American Red Cross in 2015:

Always swim with a buddy; do not allow anyone to swim alone. Even at a public pool or a lifeguarded beach, use the buddy system!

We do not pay a “buddy,” but have the expectation that everyone can serve as a “buddy” for someone else. After all, people usually swim together in the same place.

The story of community-oriented rites of passage is to put into practice the principles of the “buddy system.” Everyone today is experiencing significant challenges in living. “Life is difficult” was the beginning of Scot Peck’s famous book The Road Less Traveled. Not only is life difficult, these days it is also dangerous for more and more children—in the sense of physical safety but also emotional and psychological safety. Just as with swimming, if we institute systems where everyone has at least one other person who can look out for them, be there during good times and bad, be a “buddy,” the dangers of drowning would be greatly reduced. A buddy system for children and youth is extremely important, but adults and parents can benefit from a strong family and friend support system within a community too.

Don’t steal my BUDDY BENCH, buddy! by Steve Baker. CC BY-ND 2.0 via Flickr.

Feelings of loneliness, alienation, and disconnection are insidious and subtle consequences of contemporary society. The growth of homegrown terrorists and their commitment of acts of mass atrocities are, in part, manifestations of these feelings of loneliness and alienation. When youth grow up and come of age in a caring community that offers pathways towards developing competencies and places for them to fulfill their dreams and aspirations, they will be more committed to the values of their community and less likely to destroy it. Community-oriented rites of passage transmit life-affirming values to the next generation. They strengthen the bonds between people in the community through reciprocity between the individual and community that serves the survival of all.

Take the “Buddy Bench” as an example. Developed by seven-year-old Christian Bucks, the concept is simple: whenever someone sits on a Buddy Bench at a school playground, they’ll be invited to play by another student. The idea of Buddy Bench can be extended to any public place. People sit on the bench as an invitation for others to join them. The Buddy Bench builds community two people at a time by establishing a norm that no one needs to feel alone and that friendships exists when people sit together.

Although the above lessons might appear trite and simple, wouldn’t this modest change in consciousness and practice promote the kind of compassion and caring that could contribute to communities that nourish life? In a sense, aren’t we all swimming and living in an interconnected world where we can each become someone else’s buddy?

Featured image: “Malenge, Kids” by Arian Zwegers. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

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Protecting our children from profanity

We adults are careful about swearing around our kids. We don’t want bad language to confuse or corrupt or otherwise harm them. As Steven Pinker says in passing while talking about profanity in The Stuff of Thought (2007), “if some people would rather not explain to their young children what a blow job is, there should be television channels that don’t force them to,” and there are. We have every right to be protective of our children even if we don’t have a reason.

So, we protect our children from profanity—or try to protect them, anyway. Usually, we aren’t on the spot to police their speech at crucial moments, when they’re on the playground or huddled in those cute little gangs they form. If we’re honest, we have to admit that protecting them isn’t our only concern. We can’t bear the scrutiny of disapproving adults, and they’re everywhere. We think—as do said disapproving adults—that we ought to be ashamed of our kids for their profanity and ourselves for letting them grow into vulgar ruffians. But maybe we should be ashamed of our shame.

We try not to swear in front of the kids, but we slip on occasion, sometimes swallowing something we nearly uttered so that the kids can’t identify it. But the kids know we swear. And so we are often guilty, in Pinker’s words, of “a show of hypocrisy” which, if not quite honorable, is nonetheless “one of the perquisites of parenthood.” We put them to bed and then snigger over our hidden copies of Adam Mansbach’s Go the Fuck to Sleep. The kids get their slang, but profanity belongs to us. Of course, sooner or later, the kids get everything.

When my son, Ollie, was two, he would start the “Alphabet Song” with “ABCDeffinG.” It set some casual observers back. Jenny and I thought it was funny and innocent, but sometimes our cheeks would flush. You can see kids start to take charge with profanity, assert their right of free expression. “Oh my God!” Ollie will wail when we just don’t get whatever it is or whatever he wants. “Oh, my gosh!” we remind him. Ollie’s friend, Ella, once went out to get something out of her Paw Paw’s barn, but when she got there, the door was locked. She realized she’d have to walk 100 yards back to the house to get the keys, so she shouted, “Goddamn it!” You know where you stand with Ella. And she already owns her voice.

But the kids know we swear. And so we are often guilty, in Pinker’s words, of “a show of hypocrisy” which, if not quite honorable, is nonetheless “one of the perquisites of parenthood.”

Where do kids learn this stuff? From one another, of course, as well as from their erring parents, but media may play a role, too—kids sponge up what they know from everything. Sarah M. Coyne and a bunch of other researchers at Brigham Young University studied profanity in adolescent literature and published the results in the journal Mass Communication and Society (2012). They analyzed a controlled sample of 13,884 pages of adolescent fiction, they found a number of interesting, though not necessarily surprising, things: there’s a lot of profanity in fiction for teenagers, at a rate of roughly 34 instances per book, but in one case rising to 500 instances; books for older kids include more profanity than books for younger ones; and in the books, adolescent characters swear more than adults. Well, I get that. Adolescents swear. Hormones demand it. They resist adult power, transgress all norms but their own, and generally just piss people off. Adults try to stamp the profanity fires out, but, when your kids are teenagers, there are lots and lots of fires. Maybe that’s why attempts to eliminate teen profanity never work, at least, not totally.

I’m just surprised at how early it starts. Kids are exposed to profanity in media when they’re two or three years old. In Lauren Faust’s excellent My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, currently in its sixth season, one of the circle of pony friends, Applejack (voiced by the inimitable Ashley Ball), is the “country” character whose family owns a big apple orchard. She’s tough-minded and plain-spoken, but also soft-hearted—her favorite term of endearment is Sugarcube. She’s the only one among the ponies who comes close to swearing. She says things like, “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?” and “That filly in there may be our best chance of finding what the hay is going on around here,” and “What the hay just happened?” That’s more or less what I said when I heard what she said.

My daughter, Amelia, is a My Little Pony fan, though she says she likes Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash best of the ponies. She rarely talks about Applejack. Nevertheless, she often exclaims “What the heck?” when something takes her by surprise, and I wonder where she got it. I want to blame My Little Pony, but its origins are probably more profound. It’s true that we can say things like “Where the grass grows greener is the other side” and “What the lion does is roar,” but “Where the” and “What the“ signal profanity or a euphemism, especially with a certain tinge of intonation: “Where in hell do you think you’re going? What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Why the deuce are we using so much profanity?” Two of those—I won’t tell you which two—are sentences torn from the story of my life. Anyway, Amelia had figured out the special status of “What the” well before her fourth birthday. Some of it’s in the brain; some of it’s in the ether.

That’s not the best of it. One day recently, something astonished her, and Amelia said, “What the heck?” Then she looked at me and said, “Let me tell you something, Daddy”—she says that a lot—Sometimes I say “What the heck?” and sometimes I just say “What the …?” She pulls the “What the” idiom out by its ears but keeps euphemism up her sleeve. Before I had children, this was one of my fantasies—a father and daughter metalinguistic moment. Now, I realize, it won’t be the last, just the last when it has anything to do with My Little Pony and when I know what the hay is going on.

Featured image credit: “Kids” by Benurs. CC BY-SA 2.0  via Flikr.

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