Ethical Challenges: Problem Construction Vs. Problem Solving
December 16, 2005Who came first, the chicken or the egg? :
Ethical challenges are anterior to problem solving. When we resort to problem solving we are no longer attentive to the ethical challenge facing us. Ethical challenge perturbs our dormant reflection regarding problem construction.
As the Jewish philosopher Jacques Derrida has taught us, it is in problem construction, when we are no longer so sure what the problem is, in this un-decidable moment of suspension of the given argumentative oppositions that already define the problem, that we are ethical. Of course, once a new problem is constructed, we will be trapped again in subsequent problem solving discussion and may well miss the point in the process. However, we must never neutralise the problem and keep ongoing the process of facing un-decidability.
It is in facing the challenge of problem construction, a very anxious moment indeed, that we are able to deconstruct the identifications that make our identity stagnant and deaf to the richness of actuality. Only in moments of un-decidability do we critically interpret our own “story” and expose its contingency and arbitrariness. Ethical, and in turn, legal challenges come always as a surplus that is not yet conceptualized, as a residual imperative that demands us to face, and demolish the walls of the given.The ethical challenge does not stop, does not have walls and boundaries. No government and Parliaments are immune from that challenge however democratically elected. Nor should international bodies such as the UN and their pronouncements be immune from such challenge. Dare I say, even what we take as a justified representation of the very ethical standards we rely upon is constantly subjected to interpretative challenges.
If you’ve read all above thats it, you can take five now or continue to test your comprehension read full article:The Ethical and Legal Challenges Facing Palestine, by Oren Ben-Dor*.
*Dr. Oren Ben-Dor grew up in Israel. He teaches Legal and Political Philosophy at the School of Law Southampton University, United Kingdom.
SC: Your last line is funny, but…most of the article is easier to comprehend; he says that Zionsim is not ethical; he indicts Zionism–for example, he says just because the UN created Israel doesn’t make it right. I think it’s THE most important work I’ve read. Here we have a prominant Jew, a man who grew up in Israel, flat out saying Zionism is unethical.
Dr Ben Dor says: “As such Zionism should be declared illegal as the root cause for unethical practices of everyday life in Palestine.”
We need to shout this from the roof tops. Those who believe as Dr. Ben Dor be marginalized as “radical,” but what’s radical about insisting upon justice? He makes the point that the physical wall is ot the only wall we must demolish. We must demolish the wall that says Palestinians may not return to their ancestral homes within the so-called green line. It is “unethical” that the cute little babes I featured on my blog from all over the world may colonize wherever they want to a land to which they’ve never been and Palestinians are expected to stay out because they’re not the right religion.
Comment by umkahlil — December 16, 2005 @ 11:00 PM
umkahlil, I couldn’t have said it better. I fell in love with what he wrote, it was the most logical thing to say yet as interesting as if he invented rockets or discovered how to start a fire! I think the brutal practices of Israel succeeded in blinding everyone, making us busy with trying to solve the endless problems they create while the very existence of Israel as a state is the real problem, thats what we call “the root problem” in programming
Comment by SugarCubes — December 17, 2005 @ 4:31 AM
Derrida and his theory of Deconsruction! Made world famous architects as Peter Eisenmann and Zaha Hadid
sorry 7afoos couldnt hold myself :p
Very interesting article Shaden,and more interesting response from Umkhalil.
I’ll definately be back with my thoughts~
Comment by promises — December 17, 2005 @ 7:03 AM
Promises, stop calling me 7afoos you’re confusing the hell out of the readers as if its not enough i’m using SC, SugarCubes and my real name
Comment by SugarCubes — December 17, 2005 @ 11:15 AM
ba6alna ndal3ek, al 7a2 3alay:p
Comment by promises — December 17, 2005 @ 7:58 PM