The Brewer's Pub had a special Octoberfest brew on tap so we went with the special. I sipped it and found it to be a little disappointing. The flavor was thin and shallow with no follow through. And it badly needed enriching. I felt like ordering a shot of whiskey to throw into it to help fortify the brew and me. But I also felt like I might be on trial so I didn't want to give any ammunition to the prosecution.
"We're glad you could join us, Margaret." I started hoping to begin on a cordial note.
Margaret just nodded and ignored her beer completely.
Frank sat up in his chair as though to provide more velocity to his next and statement and proclaimed "Thaddeus here thinks that social responsibility is based on an impoverished epistemology."
Holy shit! I thought. Couldn't we toss a few pebbles before we start lobbing Volkswagens at each other?
If Margaret had any reaction at all, it was conveyed in a slightly cocked eyebrow.
"Is that right, Thaddeus?" she inquired. "Would you care to elaborate?"
Well, I was in some deep weeds now. Talking about philosophy to Paul and Frank was like showing off my knowledge of football to girl scouts. But Margaret was a different case entirely. She was not only knowledgeable in general philosophy, but was considered one of the leading thinkers in the social philosophy of technology. I wasn't going to scare her off with big words and difficult concepts. For probably the first time in my life, I was going to have to justify my philosophy to someone who would actually understand it and probably wouldn't agree. I pushed my beer away and took a moment to get my thoughts together. Paul still looked nervous. Frank couldn't have been enjoying himself more.
"Well, Mags," I began, trying to get her to underestimate me, "most people who claim to be socially responsible are simply adopting what they view as guilt free socially acceptable positions. They are not acting out of critical reflection. However, in the past, there have been numerous activities that have been socially sanctioned which later turned out to be repugnant to more enlightened thinking people. So acting on guilt free socially acceptable positions is not authentic and not even particularly desirable."
"So you claim that doing the right things for the wrong reasons is not acceptable?" she inquired, trying to lead me into a well-known moral cul-de-sac.
"No. I am not." I clarified. "I am claiming that you don't even know that they are the right things."
It was a good counter and avoided the sticky issue of subjective intent. But Margaret was not that easily stopped.
"Do you think there is an objective standard of what is right?" she said trying to take me down another blind alley. I had to give it to her. She would lay out the pitfalls in front of me one at a time until I fell into one. But I had been through this before and she would have to find a new problem if she were going to trap me.
"No." I clarified again. "I don't, which is why people should only act out of critical reflection. There are no guilt free positions. You figure out, as best you can, that which you think is right. Follow your judgement and be ready to accept it if you are wrong"
"Some very critically reflective people have decided that actions which improve the human condition are the right thing to do."
"I know they have but they are wrong." I claimed arrogantly. I could tell that she did not see where I was coming from and if I was careful, I could lead her into an ambush. Although Haggerty did not completely follow the argument, he could tell that I was in control. And it was clear from his body language that he didn't like it.
"So you don't believe that improving the human condition is the right thing to do?" she asked, engaging in a somewhat reflect argument.
"Its not that I don't believe it's the right things to do," I countered, "I just don't think you know what improves the human condition. That's the problem with social activists. They think they know what's better for everyone else. What if they are wrong?"
Margaret pondered this for a moment and tried a new approach.
"Don't you think you have an obligation to society to do everything you can to improve it?"
"I'm not sure that I do. Do you think you have an obligation to society?" I said turning the questioning back on her.
"Well, not as much an obligation as a quid pro quo," she hedged. Whenever a philosopher retreats to lesser but more defensible position, you know that they are feeling vulnerable.
"How so?" I asked although I was pretty sure that I knew where she was going.
"Well." She began. "Individuals contribute a portion of their efforts to society and society provides meaning to individuals. Without social norms to define meaning, there is none."
I couldn't believe my good fortune. She had retreated to one of the unquestioned assumptions of social philosophers, that society provides meaning. I had her now, like a hooked fish. But I would have to embed the hook a little deeper before I pulled her in.
"So you think that having a meaningful life is impossible outside of a social group?" I tested.
She wanted to say yes but was wary of my line of questioning. "It seems to be the case." She hedged.
"Then you must think that individuals do not have an inherent capacity to attach meaning to things." I continued.
"Well.." she began, but then paused.
Before she could get her thoughts in order, I came back. "Let me put it a different way. If individuals did not have an inherent capacity to attach meaning to things, what could society possibly do to provide meaning."
"Well, nothing I suppose." She conceded.
"But if society provided no meaning, would that automatically mean that individuals would never attach meaning to anything even though their capacity to attach meaning in inherent."
"No. But you have to admit that society helps individuals find meaning by organizing their experiences in predicable ways for them." She countered.
"Of course." I said. Throwing back a sardine after capturing a whale.
I sat back and took a sip. The Oktoberfest tasted a little better. Must have aged in the glass.
Margaret wrinkled her brow and took a sip of her beer. I had never seen such a flagrant display of emotion from her.
Suddenly, Frank slammed his beer down on the table, causing Margaret's beer to splash.
"Tad, you're such a GOD DAMN know it all. You think you know everything. But there are LOTS of things you don't know."
He looked like he might burst out crying, but then a look of anger gripped his face. I had never seen a man so angry in my life. I thought he might punch me but he turned and stomped away. Paul looked terrified. If Margaret even noticed Frank, nothing on her face showed it.
I sat there puzzled for a moment, but then things started becoming clear. Frank had wanted Margaret to level me on the social responsibility issue. If I had been shown to be lacking morally, then Frank would have an angle for damaging my credibility on the issue of the web pages. He would joke with other faculty about how I took the high road when it comes to web pages, but the low road when it comes to people. It might have worked, only his baiting backfired. I was sure that he would have to come clean now. Or find some other way out...