The President and the Pope

[Steven Jamar]

On Monday, June 14, 2004, at 02:04  PM, Will Linden wrote:

>   Or if in 1967, the excommunication of Leander Perez has been 
> preceded by a presidential colloquy seeking papal support for civil 
> rights campaigns. (Sorry, but for years I have been driven up the wall 
> by increasingly incoherent responses on why That Was Different).

It is different because substance, not just process, matters.  The 
coherence or lack thereof of an analogy or distinction is based not 
merely on the formal structural components of what is being compared, 
but also on the substance of what is being compared.  Depending on 
one's substantive values, an analogy or distinction will be more or 
less persuasive.  To you an analogy between the unborn and the fight 
against slavery may seem obvious.  But to find it compelling one must 
ignore the vast array of substantive differences between the two 
settings.  From the other point of view, the distinctions between the 
two may seem compelling, but that too requires either ignoring the 
important similiarities or choosing to favor the distinctions over the 
similarities.

I find favoring the death penalty and opposing abortion to be 
incoherent positions.  I understand the arguments made, I just don't 
find them persuasive.  Same with FGM and male circumcision -- I 
understand the arguments distinguishing one from the other, I just 
don't find them compelling or even persuasive on a lower standard than 
compelling.  I recognize the distinctions being drawn; I just don't 
think them to be valid in some cases, or sufficient in others.

So, Will, climb down off the Perez wall, and accept that what each of 
us find persuasive is not the same thing and what each of  us find 
coherent will vary with underlying beliefs.

One of the incredibly difficult things constantly exposed on this list, 
because of who participates and because of the nature of the topics on 
it, is that we do not start from a common set of premises such that we 
can convince each other of the correctness of our positions with 
regularity.  This is a deeper concern than the more commonplace problem 
(which we also regularly observe) of disagreeing about the application 
of the premises, even if we can agree upon what they are or should be.

Steve [avoiding-my-real-work] Jamar



-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                                 vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                       fax:  202-806-8428
2900 Van Ness Street NW	                    mailto:sjamar at law.howard.edu
Washington, DC  20008      http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar

"When I grow up, I too will go to faraway places, and when I grow old, 
I too will live by the sea."
"That is all very well, little Alice," said her grandfather, "but there 
is a third thing you must do."
"What is that?"
"You must do something to make the world more beautiful."

from "Ms. Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney

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