----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck Grimes" <cgrimes at rawbw.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2002 4:33 PM Subject: Questions for Justin and Luke
> This exchange suggested a series of questions I've got for both of
> you. Do you think there is a foundational ethics, and that that
> foundation is rational?
Yes and yes.
> If there is no such foundation, then what of the philosophical
> justifications for law, governance, and formal social institutions?
There are several (if you like to split hairs, you could say many) plausible philosophical accounts of our notions of justice, fairness, and the good. Any of them might suffice to justify our vision of what society and government should look like.
> On the other hand, if it is only a question of power, might makes
> right, then what of humanism, social justice, and progressive reform?
Might cannot make right in anything but a very trivial sense (as I believe Carrol has already stated). For it to be true in any sense, one would have to deny the existence of justice and value. If one goes that far, they cannot plausibly claim that one system of governance is superior to another.
-- Luke
>
> Chuck Grimes