problems

last post was my annual (or so) "starfish or system" rant. Because, like many Christians (and post Christians), I need to save the world, I get frustrated when I try to figure out what exactly to do. Three options:

1. individualized approach (help 1 person, then the next, then the next...)
2. structural approach (tweak the system and hopefully bring about broader results)
3. ideological approach (change basic assumptions/ideas)

The individualized approach is the most sensitive to specific needs, but it is also time consuming and can be easily undermined by structural issues or ideological issues. For example one could sink lots of time into helping so and so, only to discover it is nearly impossible for them to extricate themselves from a situation due to racism, sexism, cultural issues or deeply embedded problematic ideas. Furthermore, to use the metaphor, after throwing so many starfish back one can wish for a more systematic approach.

The social sciences tend to take the structural approach. They are interested in figuring out what is going on a larger scale, making adjustments and ameliorating problems most often through institutional means. This can have broader effects but it can also have unintended consequences. At worst it becomes human management that is over bureaucratic and insensitive to local conditions.

Lastly, the ideological approach is what philosophy should deal with (it doesn't always). This approach attempts to understand problematic often unrecognized assumptions or ideas. The hope is that bad ideas can be recognized, rooted out and altered/improved/replaced. This approach risks being abstract and impotent.

I have ended up in this last group and feel like I have gained some understanding of the problematic ideas of modernity, but am powerless to do much about it. So I tend to get fed up with 3 and want to go back to 1, but when I focus on 1 I run back to 3. By casting this in a personal light I suppose it may come across as whiny, but I think it is a fairly good mapping of the alternatives and the rudimentary pros and cons.