On Fri, 20 Apr 2001 23:18:38 -0400 Kelley Walker
<kelley at interpactinc.com> writes:
> At 10:05 PM 4/20/01 -0500, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> >No one deserves anything, good or bad.
> >
> >Carrol
>
The Canadian/British philosopher Ted Honderich is noted for his criticisms of what might be called the Principle of Desert in such works as *Punishment: The Supposed Justifications*, *Consequences of Determinism*, *How Free Are You*, and *Conservatism*. In all these works, Honderich has attempted to show both that the acceptance of a determinist or near-determinist view of human behavior is incompatible with what may be characterized as a Principle of Desert and that such a principle is in any case vacous as a guide for policy. In *Conservatism* for instance Honderich points out how the notion of desert has long been used to provide the basis for rationales defending inegalitarian social orders, while the acceptance of what Honderich calls a Principle of Equality will necessarily require some undermining of received notions concerning desert.
>
> so, did you give everyone in your classes A's? why do you bother to
>
> criticize anyone at all if you don't think they deserve it? why do
> you
> discriminate between the deserving of your attempts to proselytize
> marxism
> and those who aren't (dot commers). why do you use your filters to
> filter
> out the libertarians on the list whom you think do not deserve your
> attention and why do you tell me and others to ignore them because
> they
> don't deserve our energy or attempts to argue with them and,
> perhaps,
> change their mind.
>
> see, as justin said, we have mechanisms for distributing limited
> reserouces
> all the time, it's just that we don't see them as such until someone
> points
> them out to us.
But I think that was exactly Carrol's point. The handing out of rewards or punishments is defensable to the extent that they serve as either incentives or deterrents to specific behaviors. One need not refer to a notion of desert (taken as a primitive) to justify this. Furthermore, the abandonment of such a notion helps pave the way to acceptance of a more egalitarian social order.
>
> give me a break!
>
>
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