Carter Snead's New Book

What It Means to Be Human

Argh early-morning typos. https://t.co/1hK46oTv5H

— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) October 13, 2020

Snead wrote this for the NY Post: To heal America’s wounds, we need to recall that we belong to one another

His book on bioethics is probably good. But he is unprepared for identity politics. He implicitly recognizes that there are natural affinities:

We need an anthropology that recognizes that we come into the world as living bodies, embedded in families, communities, and histories that, as philosopher Michael Sandel says, we “neither summon nor command.”

And if conflicts should arise between different identity groups? Calls such as this for friendship, or even civility, will not suffice. When one is a professional intellectual, authentic community is generally lacking, so academics write of things they have not experienced.

A better anthropology and, therefore, a better politics must facilitate the creation of what the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre calls “networks of uncalculated giving and graceful receiving,” in which we make the goods of others our own. To create and sustain such networks, we must practice the virtues of just generosity, hospitality, misericordia (accompaniment of others in their suffering), gratitude, humility, openness to the unbidden, tolerance of imperfection, solidarity, respect for dignity and honesty.

In other words, we must embrace the virtues of authentic friendship. We must remember our embodiment and what it means. And then, God willing, we will remember that we belong to one another.

They may think they have some sort of community with (some of) their colleagues, but how many of their colleagues would pass the zombie apocalypse thought experiment/test and qualify as true friends? Even if they do have (male) friends who pass that test, how many such friends do they have? Probably not even enough to fill a rifle platoon. And yet they think they are qualified to talk about community, "bcuz credential." They may think they have some sort of community with (some of) their colleagues, but how many of their colleagues would pass the zombie apocalypse thought experiment/test and qualify as true friends? The same criticism could be levelled at those associated with the American Solidarity Party. I don't expect much from professional (D) and (R) pols. But if the ASP wants to advertise itself as being different, there better be some actual basis for it, other than some sort of identity as Christian Democrats or adherence to Roman Catholic Social Teaching. Prove yourselves the trad. and natural way, not with mass politics.