Actually, you are quite mistaken. I wasn't lurking, and the argument was brought to my attention by brees. I looked at a few of the posts leading up to it, but I skimmed, and apparently missed the human element of dominion in your argument, as I explained to karen. Therefore, since you made reference to Judeo- Christian mythology, I addressed the primary use of dominion, which is when God confers it on Adam and Eve over the creatures of the earth, that is, animals and fishes and birds.
Now, when the question of dominion of man over man was brought up, I gave my view of it, that dominion is too strong a word, even in unequal relationships, because of the fundamental respect that should be accorded other human beings as such. Later, looking over a post I had missed, I noticed that when brees used dominion, he used it in the context of responsibility for others, which is the "stewardship" model of dominion to which I had referred, rather than the purely exploitative model.
This is the definition of stewardship in Merriam- Webster, and shows what I had in mind:
Main Entry: stew·ard·ship
Pronunciation: 'stü-&rd-"ship, 'styü-; 'st(y)u(-&)rd-
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
1 : the office, duties, and obligations of a steward
2 : the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care <stewardship of our natural resources>
britannica.com
It is hard to see anything offensive in such a notion. As for control, we do not seek control because we are animals, we seek control because we are trying to accomplish things. I want my son to grow up healthy and happy, and therefore teach him, give him incentives to do well, and punish him when he transgresses. That is my duty as a father. You can make it into something insidious and call it "control", but it is actually taking care of one's child.
About your oddly reiterative question, yes, we have mutual claims upon one another, whether or not they are enforceable. As interlocutors, we each have a right to expect a certain degree of respect and care taken in argument. Unfortunately, expectation is frequently disappointed. Additionally, as members of the same society, our obligations towards one another are abstracted as social obligations. That is, I pay taxes that one day may come to you in the form of disaster relief, for example; you pay taxes that may one day come to me as free access to the Smithsonian museums. We all contribute to the pot, and may all, on occasion, take something from it, as well.
Even if you were, say, a Canadian, we are remotely bound in a web of relationships subsisting between our two countries, and so it is at least possible to make out a case of a mutual claim, however attenuated.
Still, the main claim we may have upon one another is a function of our interaction. The claims that we have upon one another are primarily claims of ordinary decency and common courtesy. For example, we are expected to deal honestly and fairly with one another. We are expected to treat one another with a modicum of respect. These claims are reciprocal, and do not involve control of each other, but expectation of self- control......... |
