Andrew, when I was talking to Freddy I said I BELIEVED he was using admiration for Thomas Jefferson to defend or justify slavery because it seemed to me that he MIGHT be doing so. What I was hoping for, and carefully asked for in my last post to him, was clarification about whether he was saying that. I was not accusing him of anything, and did not want to misunderstand him.
Freddy and I have been debating various issues that we are on seemingly opposite sides of for almost a year. He wins hands down on philosophy, and he knows I think he is one of the brightest people on the planet, but I find it challenging to discuss stuff with him, and in some areas I think some of my arguments are valid.
Obviously, unless he makes a clear, concrete statement and sticks with it, I cannot offer an opposing, but perhaps interesting and convincing, point of view.
I thought that throwing in other research about SIDS when what we were discussing was a particular study, was obfuscation. I was saying that if all other factors in the study--birth weight, smoking in the household, all the other factors that impact on SIDS--are equal, and the only difference is the outside air quality in different cities, and more babies are dying in cities proportionally as the measurable air quality becomes worse, then I thought air quality was the only differential, and therefore air quality was important. You know, that it was yet another reason to try to reduce emissions and do all the other things environmentally to improve the air. When he persisted in his argument, I became curious as to what his underlying motivation might be.
Then Freddy started denying the study was about outdoor air pollution, and threw in the Oxford study. It seemed he might be taking the position that indoor air quality is not impacted by outdoor air quality, as well. This is sort of an intellectual exercise for me as well as a discussion with Freddy, and it's more fun for me if he makes one clear statement that I can argue. There is no way I will ever prevail unless he does that, and I am determined that at some point he will stop being a moving target by throwing in the kitchen sink in his arguments, and I will win one.
Anyway, we have had plenty of real fights here recently, but this is not one, at least for me, and I hope Freddy feels the same way. |
