[lit-ideas] Re: Further to Economics Not
- From: Judith Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:12:35 +0100 (BST)
No. It's A Theory of Justice, Dombey and Sun, The Night of the Iguana, and so
on.
It's just a convention, though... .
Judy Evans, Cardiff
--- On Fri, 30/9/11, Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Further to Economics Not
To: "lit-ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Friday, 30 September, 2011, 12:47
Donal, I agree with everything you say. You're right, we can't just scrap the
whole thing. That would make me a nihilist, which I'm anything but. Even if
it's leaking, it's all we have. But, fixing it I don't think is possible. I
think it's just going to have to run its course and wind up where it winds up.
The best we can do is stop the world and get off. I think actually that I'm
more and more attracted to primitivism, not because humans are different in a
primitive state (all humans, all the time), but because I think the equality
that's forced on humans in primitive societies is more civilized than what
civilization has offered so far.
That's the only way to keep sociopaths in check.
I do have a question though. Does the of in Theory Of Justice have to be
capitalized? That is going to be my next long night. I'm so proud that I just
figured out when to use an adverb and when to use an adjective. This is a hard
one though, any help will be appreciated.
Andy
Playing seriously, but mostly seriously playing
From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 7:06 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Further to Economics Not
From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, 29 September 2011, 20:12
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Further to Economics Not
>I don't understand your last sentence.
I don't quite understand what you don't understand about it.
> First comes figuring out that something is wrong, then comes figuring out
the alternatives.
My points did not deny things may happen in this 'First..then' order; though I
suspect it can happen in either order - sometimes it is realising there is an
alternative that brings home that "something is wrong" with how things are. My
"last sentence" neither denied nor asserted this point about order, which is
not a
necessary order but a contingent one in my view. My point was that -
irrespective of the order - the value of a criticism that "something is wrong"
(or is imperfect) may be negligible unless linked to how that "wrong" may be
corrected by some alternative (and without the correction involving some
greater evil). There may be clearly "something wrong", for example, with some
of the inequalities of income in our societies but admitting this is of
negligible impact in persuasive terms for making changes, since we need to know
for example whether those changes would actually remove the wrong and, if so,
whether they do not have negative
consequences that outweigh the wrong righted. A famous example in this regard
is perhaps Rawl's argument, in his "A Theory Of Justice", to the effect that
inequalities of that sort may be 'just' if even the worst-off under that
inequality is better-off than they would be if
that inequality were removed or lessened. Dilemmas lie at the heart of most
social problems and that is why a criticism should address the dilemmas
involved and not simply think pointing out a wrong in itself is enough to carry
the day on any question of reform. It simply isn't.
I am sympathetic to your points about the success of sociopaths in climbing
corporate and other organisational ladders, but do not see how this impacts on
my "last sentence" either.
Donal
Indian Summering
"Everybody is saying this is a day only the Lord could make"
London
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