You might’ve noticed a fall off in post frequency here. It’s not all Systems of Survival’s fault, though I have been less compelled as Jane Jacobs speaks through fictional characters. The content’s good and I’m determined to get through it.

Last week, I took a closer look at kumquat-carrying Ben, who, when looking at Kate’s two distinct lists of “esteemed behavior” insisted that there must be a third method. Though he was shot down by the rest of Armbruster’s coterie, he invoked the “common good.” If you’ve been following my updates on facebook or twitter between my posts here, you already know that this inspired me to reread Garrett Hardin’s “The Tragedy of the Commons.”

Hardin looks at problems lacking a “technical solution.” Such problems cannot be solved through better understanding or application of the natural sciences. He looks specifically at the population problem:

The population problem has no technical solution; it requires a fundamental extension in morality.

That’s no short order.

Jacobs’ moral syndromes or lists of “esteemed behavior” were forged through trial and error over generations by rational actors. Without that “rational actors” economics parlance, it means that these syndromes emerged because those who subscribed survived.

Environmental problems, such as those concerning essayist Hardin, fictional Ben, and plenty of other real life parties (including me), fall into this “technical solution”-less category. While problem identification may require technical skill and application, the extension of morality Hardin calls for might only be forged under in the crucible of survival.

Unless…

There might just be some way of appealing to both syndromes, but for different reasons.

KumquatHere are the notes I made about Ben in my last character guide:

• Environmental doomsday-ist, but cheerful
• Carries his own kumquats
• Published a bestseller on planetary destruction under Armbruster
• Mid-40s
• Moral absolutist

Jane Jacobs makes sure to show us just how special Ben is through his kumquat. It couldn’t be an orange or just anything you’d find at the Piggly Wiggly. He’s come to Armbruster’s prepared with his own kumquat to flavor his water.

Jacobs also establishes early that Ben’s a moral absolutist (or at least appears as such at first glance). He’s an environmentalist. Those not subscribing to his moral code are wasteful and ignorant. He’s not so sure he’s included in Kate’s two systems of esteemed behavior:

You’ve ignored a third method, one that’s not based on domination or on dog-eat-dog competition. It’s based on the common good. I’m thinking of the system that’s summed up by this principle: ‘From each according to his abilities, and to each according to his needs!’ “Why Two Syndromes?” Systems of Survival (p53)

The rest of Armbruster’s group manages to align his supporting examples with one of the two syndromes: common purse communities into the commercial syndrome and social welfare states into the guardian syndrome.

Jacobs remains every bit the economist here. The systems she establishes through Kate are based on methods of survival—norms that help us allocate goods and resources. This is the kind of thrift that is at the etymological root of “economy.”

Unfortunately, the tragedy of the commons illustrates that the common good isn’t always enough. Maximizing our own economic utility, or ability to survive, may just destroy the commons—and our ability to survive. Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is rife with examples of how this plays out for societies over centuries.

(cc) freeparking on flickrI had a creative writing professor who would search antique stores for old portraits, subjects long since separated from kith and kin. She would use the portraits to help generate character sketches, even if just as a jumping off point.

We don’t know much about Kate, the character Jane Jacobs uses to compile the two lists of “esteemed behavior” in Systems of Survival. Jacobs manages to sneak in a few details and traits about Kate—more than in your average Platonic dialogue—but we’re left with far fewer than for most characters in your contemporary novel.

Here’s the short list I provided earlier about Kate:

Kate:

• 30
• Academic - Biologist
• Enjoyed popular success with book on animal memory published by Armbruster, to dismay of peers
• Volunteers to go first; needs just over four weeks to research the systems behind morality

I also forgot that during the first meeting, while everyone else but Ben is drinking alcohol, she chooses coffee. Jacobs also applies the adjectives “tired” and “rumpled” to her appearance at this meeting.

Also, she’s not just your run-of-the-mill biologist. The academic denegration she’d received for the popular success of her book had landed her on a project involving rabbit neurobiology, edging out her research on squirrel behavior. In other words, she presents as both a generalist and a specialist: presenting her passion popularly while pursuing a very specific target in her academic discipline.

Within all this, Jacobs presents Kate as a keen observer of all manner of systems. In Kate’s words: “I like uncovering systems…” (p21) While her specialty is neurobiology, she proves that the same observation skills apply to systems of morality. Jacobs proved herself as a keen observer of urban systems in The Death and Life of Great American Cities (tags: organized complexity, processes).

That’s not to necessarily equate the real Jacobs and the fictional Kate, but I would imagine Jacobs’ methods to ferret out these systems of morality were similar to Kate’s. The latter, though fictional, has the advantage of age, position, and eagerness on the real Jacobs, yielding results in four weeks, compared to Jacobs’ 15 years.

Kate: First I immured myself in the library, opening to closing. Read, read, read, and took notes.

…Biographies; business histories; scandals; sociology, although that was less help than I expected, except for some of the Europeans. I dipped into general history and…skimmed some cultural anthropology. Nights at home I clipped newspapers.

I drew on three kinds of evidence. Whenever I ran across a behavior that was extolled as admirable, I cast it in the form of a precept….

I did the same with behavior that was laid out as expected or proper….

My third type of evidence was behavior that was deemed scandalous, disgraceful, or criminal….

…I kept running across much the same underlying moral principle in [other] contexts…I cast it as the more embracing precept…

Then I holed up at home and tried to make sense of my notes. First I sequestered off the universals….

…I noticed that specific precepts were repeatedly associated with specific others…. Aha! Precepts came in linked clusters! Each kind overlapped with other clusters. Combining the overlaps resolved the clusters into these two lists…

~”A pair of contradictions” Systems of Survival (p25-27)

The other characters bring different perspective and modes of thinking to the dialogue, but it’s comforting to see some of the habits Jacobs relies on in other works reflected in Kate.

Armbruster:

This is no novel… This is a tradition older than the novel. Dialogue—didactic talking heads, if you will—goes back to Plato and possibly to the dawn of consciousness about right and wrong, whenever that was. “Armbruster’s Summons” Systems of Survival (p20)

Jane Jacobs is about to leave most of the devices of fiction behind. The only thing more we’ll learn about the characters is from what they say. She’s front loaded the book with their back stories - the details I shared last week in the character guide I’ve updated below.

Jacobs, surely, is not a master of fiction writing. I’ve sat in workshops where she’d be thoroughly taken to task for the sake of the craft.

But craft is not her concern.

She’s using the characters to advocate for different views and positions. She’s using just a touch of back story and character revealing action to cast the players to take these didactic positions. There’s no plot.

Back to Armbruster:

The form—disagreements, speculations, second thoughts, questions, answers, amended answers—it’s suited to the problematic subject matter. “Armbruster’s Summons” Systems of Survival (p20)

Before the first evening of discussion is up, before Armbruster can make this proposal, we’ve already lost Quincy, the banker (updated below). I’ll speculate about his purpose later. I’ve also added new labels for Ben and Hortense. Ben is a moral absolutist. Hortense is a moral relativist. That is, for Hortense, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the circumstances. Kate has also agreed to take the floor the next evening the five remaining characters can reconvene—but only with enough time to do plenty of research.

Updated character guide:

Key:

• New information
• No longer relevant
  

Armbruster:

• Host, in modest Manhattan apartment
• Retired publisher

Jasper:

• Crime novelist, published by Armbruster
• 50, writing his memoirs

Kate:

• 30
• Academic - Biologist
• Enjoyed popular success with book on animal memory published by Armbruster, to dismay of peers
• Volunteers to go first; needs just over four weeks to research the systems behind morality

Ben:

• Environmental doomsday-ist, but cheerful
• Carries his own kumquats
• Published a bestseller on planetary destruction under Armbruster
• Mid-40s
• Moral absolutist

Quincy:

• Banker
• Former business relationship with Armbruster now friendship
• Busy

Hortense:

• 43
• Divorce lawyer
• Legal aid worker
• Widow
• Armbruster’s niece
• Reluctant attendee
• Moral relativist

Yesterday, I shared the mind map Tony Daniels created from the fictional discussion Jane Jacobs presents in Systems of Survival. What’s missing from that outline are any of the characters that present this material:

Armbruster:

• Host, in modest Manhattan apartment
• Retired publisher

Jasper:

• Crime novelist, published by Armbruster
• 50, writing his memoirs

Kate:

• 30
• Academic - Biologist
• Enjoyed popular success with book on animal memory published by Armbruster, to dismay of peers

Ben:

• Environmental doomsday-ist, but cheerful
• Carries his own kumquats
• Published a bestseller on planetary destruction under Armbruster
• Mid-40s

Quincy:

• Banker
• Former business relationship with Armbruster now friendship
• Busy

Hortense:

• 43
• Divorce lawyer
• Legal aid worker
• Widow
• Armbruster’s niece
• Reluctant attendee