>
> "Smuggling in the standards of the Good Life from industrial
> socities"? If you can't even agree that medicine and education are a
> universal good then I do have to wonder... Would you rather be some
> kind of subsistance farmer or peasant or a well-educated modern person
> who subscribes to e-mail lists about economics? Who has the easier -
> and better - life? The answer is pretty obvious.
Yes, the answer is obvious--if you use the standards of people living in industrial societies! Here's an interesting fact: in temperate climates, adults in hunting and gathering societies spend about 10-12 hours a week working; the majority of their time is spent on family interactions, religious rituals, storytelling. Let's compare that to the 50+ hr workweeks for many people in our society. What is objectively better: sacrificing more of your life to make profits for capitalists, or spending more time with family and friends? If we use the standards of hunting and gathering societies, the answer is pretty obvious!
Again, I'm not saying this to claim that we should "go back" to hunting and gathering societies. I'm trying to stress that what we consider to be a "universal good"--life in industrial society--is in fact a moral/ethical standard produced by people living in certain social conditions.
Miles