Making Sense of Moving Forward

When the resources of a culture are too meagre to carry through the task of reinterpretation, the task of justification becomes impossible.

- Alasdair MacIntyre -

We live in an age at once more aware of one's background yet less attuned to the gift a tradition brings. Here, I am referring to the growing awareness of historical realities, privileges, & dynamics which impact any issue or dialogue you partake in. I have never been more aware that I am a straight white male American. My understanding of these particular descriptors continues to flavor the way I think of myself & voice any opinion. I consider this growing awareness to be a gift, an opportunity to ponder myself from the eyes of the Other. Hand-in-hand with this general awareness arises the desire to embrace one's background, people, and ethnicity. But what does it mean to embrace one's background & traditions? How ought we see ourselves in an increasingly pluralistic world? Here, I will argue that in order to move forward, we must first look backward. If we are facing the task of constantly reinterpreting ourselves & our world, then it is critical to ask what we are trying to interpret and why it is worthy keeping around.

I had a student once who always complained. Well, maybe not always. I did appreciate the times she saw something wrong & named what was happening. But soon, my mantra for her became, "Offer solutions, not just problems, Hannah!" I stand by that advice. And in following that advice, I turn once again to Alasdair MacIntyre. Professional philosophers are a lot like my friend Hannah. People listen to them to diagnose problems, even if the solutions they offer don't pair well with reality. In After Virtue, MacIntyre attempts to diagnose the problems in moral & ethical discourse. While you might not agree with his proposed solution, I think part of the diagnosis itself may begin to offer a way forward through a 'turn' backward.

The quote from After Virtue above uses a lot of big words. MacIntyre is arguing that if you don't understand what's been handed down to you, you won't know what to do with it moving forward. From there, it only makes sense to leave what you don't understand behind. The key words to think about for the purposes of this essay are: (1) resources, (2) reinterpretation, & (3) justification. In short, we must understand what has been given, what it means, & why it still matters.

What Is Given

Have you ever attended a Passover seder? Look for an opportunity to participate this year if you have not before. You will hear the Exodus story, eat parsley dipped in salt, & hopefully not see your Episcopalian grandmother drink too much wine. (I'm speaking from experience). The Passover celebration is a gift given to Jewish families of every generation. It celebrates an event, and it offers a resource for those in the Jewish tradition to understand their history, family, & beliefs.

Some cultures offer rich resources to each generation. Key events, people, rites & passages are living enactments of a tradition. They provide the background from which we speak & live in the world. It is here the phenomenon of privilege rears its ugly head. Some cultures and peoples have been handed down, unjustly and otherwise, less resources from their background & traditions. Your background is a gift. And it is there that we must start. We must understand what we've been handed. Not just the facts, but the fullness. MacIntyre fears the resources of modernity, and by extension those of bureaucratic capitalism, fail to offer us anything ethically substantial to live into. So if we fail to look to our backgrounds and traditions, no matter how ugly or messy they are, what replaces that gift might be something less real or helpful than nothing at all.

How the Gift is Understood

At one point in the Passover meal, a child stands up and says what's on everyone's minds, "On all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs; why on this night only bitter herbs?" This is my favorite part of the meal. Seriously. A child asks four questions about what is happening in the meal, and then an adult answers. It's a pattern I wish we followed more in our world.

If the first step forward is to receive the resources of our backgrounds, then the next must be the wrestling to understand what it means in practice. Now, this takes particular skill & wisdom. You must look patiently to the past & remain acutely aware of your present context & concerns. The present concerns will inevitably flavor the kind of answer a background & tradition gives. But in any case, it will require you & I to remain humble to accept what we've been given & patiently work towards giving a thoughtful response to our present concerns.

Why It Matters

Beneath the most vocal debates of our times, many of which descend into incoherency, asks the eternal pragmatic question, "What good is it? What does it do? Is it worth keeping around?" It seems clear that one must clarify, "What good is it for whom?" Further, we assume a notion of progress which is moving toward some end. And again, it seems prudent to clarify, "Toward what end?" We cannot answer these questions, questions regarding the ends to which we aim and the practical reasoning which will take us there, until we understand our backgrounds & traditions. That is why they matter. To assume a general conceptions of goods & progress is ultimately unhelpful. The resources of our backgrounds, combined with the understanding of the goods to which they speak to, provide the only vanguard against incoherency.

But then arises a further problem: what about competing goods? How do we reconcile rival conceptions for the good life for human beings & our planet, especially in light of all the ways we are predisposed with unequal resources? These questions, I believe, move towards the crux of justice, politics, & care for our planet. I cannot propose a comprehensive answer. But then again, that's not my task at the present.

I am committed to this process. Before I am too quick to offer a solution, I wish to first understand the problem. This starts with understanding my own background, privilege, bias, & tradition. It is constantly re-interpreted through the voices & experiences of others. Whether the task of establishing a coherent, global polity can be accomplished remains to be seen. Indeed, I only believe this task will achieve actuality through God's grace & the culmination of the Gospel story. And that is the voice I will bring to the conversation, having begun to look back that I may listen well & look forward.