This is my response to the "Worldview" article.
First of all, lets define what a premise is: which is sentences that form the basis for a piece of reasoning; the premises in an inference are supposed to support the conclusion. So if it is his world premises, then I am suggesting that it is a reason behind the existence of the world and people. In this article, I understand what the author is saying. When he states: "this suffering and misery is not a sad twist of exploitation have caused hunger, suffering and death in the world- it is caused." I believe that, we, humans have caused what the world is of now. He, first, believes that justification can fall into two camps: one where an individual conviction in the universe and another where grounded in reality that goes beyond human convictions. He explains how he is a Christian and that his religious beliefs and their demand upon our conscience. Then he explains the fundamental guilt. I do not understand what the "fundamental guilt" is and so therefore I tend to side to not agreeing with it. Then he goes on the second primise, where the present society is fraught with and founded upon unimaginable human misery and suffering. And as I stated early in the paragraph that the statement of we, humans, are causing the misery and suffering. I agree with this statement because this suffering did not just happen, we caused it by our oppression and exploitation. I also agree with the world primises of where others have far too much than needed but yet we still need more. This is very sad and unfortunate. People that already for the necessities for living, continue to want more. Whereas some earn the money to consume these necessitites, some are unable to obtain due to their living environment and social class they were born in. Especially in some countries, where you can not move up in social classes since you were born in. As in America, you can work your way up the class by hard work.
He summarizes his two premises of the worldview by saying that one there is an ethical grounded in cry of fellow humans to our conscience and that there is ethical absolute is beling violated to a degree. I am confused by this statement. Where I do not know what the certain degree is and it is not explained clearly. He also believes that there are two different distinct categories: right and wrong. He says that our society is in the current stage of wrongness. Here, I do not believe, since not all societies are wrong and some are trying to excel. And not all people are doing wrong, some are trying to change for the better. His third premise is says is that the injustice is constructed and that structures of power, gender, and racial domination are all humanly constructed and can be undone by humans. I do agree with this since we have caused and created the oppression and different structures of power and class. We can change it. But I do not think it is possible since many people would have to be part of changing this. But most people are already influenced by this and will not be willing to change their minds, especially people that are already in power. He states that we need to build a world where each person receives according to their needs and abilities. I am unsure of what the person needs or ables. So therefore, I am concerned with this statement. What if a person needs so many things? They can still not change the world and its "wrongs". He should state what the needs and abilities are. In the end, he concludes that absolute responsibility, fundamental guilt, and genuine hope is the struggling journey from responsibility, guilt to hope and the worldview is a daily and life-long commitment of compassion and justice or what is right. I do agree with part of this statement. But the worldview should not only be this, it should be about self-fulfillement and discovering on true self. Then people might be able to live in harmony. People should drive for what they believe in and continue at it. People need to understand their purpose in life and their purpose in this world, rather than just live it. They should understand the world and beyond. I think, that the worldview is something that is just mysterious and undiscovering. It is just a mystery to everyone, especially why humans exist, what is their purpose is on the world. But with some people they spend all their time trying to discover their purpose and some even go crazy. I believe, there should be less greed and jealous but more love and justice. This is my worldview. In conclusion, I believe in two of his world premises and have also added on. And I am unsure about his first premise of the fundamental guilt.