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Articles

Cars on the Carpet

Geoffrey Scarre responds to Tim Chappell with a qualified defence of motoring.

Tim Chappell ’s stimulating and impassioned diatribe against the motor-car (‘How to be Car- Free ’, Philosophy Now, Issue 8) will strike a chord with two non-exclusive classes of reader: those who share his dislike of the ubiquitous metal boxes on wheels, and those who consider it part of the philosopher ’s job to comment on issues of public importance. Belonging as I do to both of these classes, I should like to argue that Chappell ’s article, though rightly intentioned, presents a simplistic view of the issues, being flawed by false analogy and rhetorical exaggeration. We need to define the problem of the motor-car more finely than Chappell does before we can think sensibly about its solution.

Chappell contends that “our society … is psychologically addicted to the motor-car in a way analogous to, but even more damaging than, the way in which individuals can be psychologically addicted to cigarettes.” Resulting from this addiction are “self-deception and the perpetuation of false values on a massive scale.

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