<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>>Why is it important to be able to say exactly why the attainment of equality >or freedom is valuable? </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>How would I know it is if I wasn't working on more than a gut feeling?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>>Who are you trying to prove these propositions to?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Myself, and, if I feel certain enough that I'm correct, hopefully others.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>>...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.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>>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?</DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yes.  It has altered the way I think of equality (including what sorts are possible and how desirable they are).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>>But one doesn't arrive at an ethics outside a political framework and then >apply to to construct one.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It's a bummer to learn that now, since I've been attempting that very task.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>-- Luke</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>