Essay 1 — Civilization as False Consciousness
Reading Focus
Part 1 of Blackburn's Very Short Introduction discusses seven "Threats to Ethics." These are ways in which many people attempt to do away with ethics altogether. In the last section, Blackburn analyses appeals to "false consciousness." An appeal to false consciousness is when it is argued that someone promoting a particular set of supposedly ethical norms is unconscious of the way that these norms promote the interests of some group of power elites. Look for the ways that Gandhi in Indian Home Rule, and McBay, Keith and Jensen in Deep Green Resistance appeal to false consciousness as they criticize the notion of civilization.
Main Question
When Gandhi; and McBay, Keith and Jensen reject civilization, do their arguments entail a rejection of ethics entirely — or are these stances against civilization actually manifestations of legitimate ethical principles?
Prompt
Gandhi on the one hand, and McBay, Keith and Jensen on the other relentlessly criticize civilization as a false consciousness that directly promotes the destruction of traditional ethical society. And to a great extent, Scheidler's first several chapters of The End of the Megamachine support these criticisms. Do you agree? Is civilization inherently unethical? —Or, are you inclined to think that a rejection of civilization is a rejection of ethics? Why do you believe as you do, and why should the reader of your essay agree with you?