David Peat

162 From Certainty to UncertaintyA small child may appear to be constantly making mistakes in arithmetic,but closer investigation will probably show that she is ignorantof a particular mathematical step and so she has invented a rule—albeit incorrect—which she then uses consistently in her calculations.Rather than stopping and having to support an inner tension, the mindpatches over things and keeps running.Likewise, when we are faced with the disturbances of daily decisions,of weighing up alternatives and wondering which is the correctethical choice, we prefer to pass the buck rather than tackle the issuesourselves; and so the answer comes: “Put the responsibility on someoneelse’s shoulders.” “Ask the expert.” “Our tax dollars support thegovernment so why don’t politicians pay some really bright scientiststo come up with the right answer and tell us what to do?” “After all,scientists split the atom and put men on the moon, why can’t they tellus which sort of bag to select at the supermarket checkout?”But where are we going to find these experts, these dispensers ofecological wisdom? When the American colonies decided to “dissolvethe political bands” that connected them to the British Crown theywere careful to do so in a spirit of right action. The founding fathers ofthe United States of America set down a carefully worded argument asto why foreign authority could not be justified. This Declaration ofIndependence drew upon the best minds of its day, with ThomasJefferson as its principal author.Law, to Jefferson, was not simply a matter of torts and contractsbut a way of understanding human culture, history, values, and meanings.In writing this declaration, Jefferson drew on this philosophy. Healso had the help of another exceptional man, Benjamin Franklin, whoadded that marvelous phrase, “We hold these truths to be selfevident,”when referring to the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness.At a critical time in its history, a new nation could turn to leadersand philosophers concerned with truth rather than power, fame, andpopularity. The founding fathers were not bothered about placatinglobbyists and vested interests or worried about donations to a politicalparty. Their main interest did not lie in pleasing the public in order tobe reelected for another term in office. Rather they sought to make