Ethical foundations of the left

Luke Benjamin Weiger lweiger at umich.edu
Mon Jul 23 12:06:52 PDT 2001



>Why is it important to be able to say exactly why the attainment of equality >or freedom is valuable?

How would I know it is if I wasn't working on more than a gut feeling?


>Who are you trying to prove these propositions to?

Myself, and, if I feel certain enough that I'm correct, hopefully others.


>...which I think are legitimate and fun to think about, just as it is legitimate and fun to research 16th century Italian art history or the four-color problem in topology.

A line worthy of Posner (and I mean that as a compliment). Needless to say, because argument has changed my conception of the world and what I ought to do while I'm a part of it, I think it's more important than other "fun" activities. Actually, in my experience, actual argumentation (the sort carried on against one's prior beliefs when they're called into question) is more akin to a mild sort of torture than it is to an entertainment.


>But, to put a Ponersian and in general a pragmatist question to you, would >it shake your commitment to equality if you found that all the arguments for >it are problematic?

Yes. It has altered the way I think of equality (including what sorts are possible and how desirable they are).


>But one doesn't arrive at an ethics outside a political framework and then >apply to to construct one.

It's a bummer to learn that now, since I've been attempting that very task.

-- Luke

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