Pragmatism is interesting. I'd certainly like to learn more about it, although the second-hand Rorty I've encountered seems a bit challenging for this novice. What did you think of the Posner/Singer debate in slate (assuming that you read it)? Both of the philosophy graduate students I spoke with felt that Singer got the better of him.
I thought you may have "positivist leanings" because I encountered a posting in the archive where you professed respect (which you reiterated here) for positivism. Sorry for the mistake.
BTW, how did you enjoy your philosophical training at Michigan? I'm assuming that's where you went because it's where Gibbard (who has to believe that ethical statements are prescriptive because he denies the existence of moral facts) now teaches.
--Luke
----- Original Message ----- From: "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at hotmail.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 7:45 AM Subject: Re: Ethical foundations of the left
> Positivist leanings? That's a new one. I'm a pragmatist and a scientific
> realist in the manner of Sellars, Quine, Richard Boyd, the old Hilary
Putnam
> (circa 1967-75)(at least two stages back), that lot. Of course, all of
us
> trained in analytical philosophy "come out" of positivism, but that
doesn't
> make us us positivists, any more than the fact the Solidarity "comes out"
of
> groups with Trotskyist politics makes it Trot.
>
> I have developed more respect and appreciation for positivism than I (we)
> had in the 1970s, when it was still hip to beat up on it, and when there
> were positivists of a sort still around. There aren't, really, anymore
> today, except for maybe Larry Sklar at Michigan.
>
> No, I don't accept verificationism of any sort, and I'm a sort of moral
> realist in that I think that ethical claims like "Exploitation is unjust"
or
> "Freedom is better than slavery" are properly appraised as true or false.
My
> metaethical position is probably close to that stakes out by Eliz.
Anderson
> in Value in Ethics and Economics. I have written a number of papers in
> political ethics, and at least one defending the objectivity of justice.
>
> Btw, the positivists did not "deny the existence of ethics"; they just
> interpreted ethical statements as presciptive. The classical statement is
> C.L. Stevenson's still-wonderful Ethics and Language. My dissertation
> advisor Allen Gibbard--no positivist! (he has written important papers in
> grand metaphysics)--has a brilliant restatement of prescriptivism in his
> book Wise Choices, Apt Feelings.
>
> I think it is odd to describe Rawls as a "dissenting utilitarian." He's
not
> a utilitarian of any sort.
>
> I have not read Singer's "Darwinian left," although I have read other of
his
> books, such as Practical Ethics. I find his flat headed utilitarianism
> rather unpersuasive, although his applied discussions are generally
> interesting and sensitive.
>
> --jks
>
> >From: "Luke Benjamin Weiger" <lweiger at umich.edu>
> >Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> >To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
> >Subject: Re: Ethical foundations of the left
> >Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:19:31 -0700
> >
> >A Rawlsian contractualist, for instance. Sorry if my wording was
> >imprecise.
> >Scouring the archives a couple of days ago, I found out that you have
> >positivist leanings. Does that mean that you deny the existence of
ethics
> >because there is no plausible test for verification?
> >
> >-- Luke
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at hotmail.com>
> >To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
> >Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 11:35 AM
> >Subject: Re: Ethical foundations of the left
> >
> >
> > > What's a utilitarian dissenter? --jks
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: "Luke Benjamin Weiger" <lweiger at umich.edu>
> > > >Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > > >To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
> > > >Subject: Ethical foundations of the left
> > > >Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 12:20:47 -0700
> > > >
> > > >Has anyone on this list-serv read "A Darwinian Left" by Peter Singer?
> >Any
> > > >fellow consequentialists (or utilitarian dissenters) out there?
> > > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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