Philosophy
Hopefully by now, everyone has seen this clip of Elizabeth Warren. Phil, a longtime Playground friend, asked me about a claim she makes at the end. She says that "part of the underlying social contract is that you take a hunk of that [earnings] and pay forward for the next kid who comes along." Is the social contract really temporal?
The idea behind social contractarianism is that we need a social contract to keep us out of a state of nature, to create a clear sense of what rights we have and do not have, of contracts and how they are enforced. But this is a contemporary sense of the contract, it is designed to order society here and now, so that I don't kill or cheat you and you don't kill or cheat me. I certainly want to make sure that the contract is in place for the near future because the contracts I enter into will often involve delayed satisfaction. I'll give you the money now, and you give me the goods later.
But contracts with me cannot extend beyond my lifetime because then the person you contracted with no longer exists. Do I have an interest in the social contract considering future generations? If I have kids, sure, but what about in general? Is there a sense in the social contract that the society created is designed to be lasting beyond the implicit signatories of the contract as it is now? Does the social contract really include obligations for me to future generations or do we need something other than a social contract to make sense of such claims of obligation?
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Heard an interview with theologian Bart Ehrman the other day in which he was saying that because Jesus was an apocalypticist who believed that the world as we know it would end in the very near future and the Kingdom of God would arrive on Earth in a...
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I got drafted to write a piece in the forthcoming Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy, so I've decided to start thinking about encores. The E Street Band is famous for two and three encore performances, with the encore being the length of other bands'...
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Karma is supposedly a cosmic sense of justice, of just desserts, of reaping what one sows, of getting what one deserves. But the concept has the curious property of enlarging the scope of justice beyond the act to include other non-related acts -- that...
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Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson ? the one who said that only the best residents should be allowed to return to New Orleans public housing - publicly declared that he won't give government contracts to people based on their...
Philosophy
The Social contract and Generations to Come
Hopefully by now, everyone has seen this clip of Elizabeth Warren. Phil, a longtime Playground friend, asked me about a claim she makes at the end. She says that "part of the underlying social contract is that you take a hunk of that [earnings] and pay forward for the next kid who comes along." Is the social contract really temporal?
The idea behind social contractarianism is that we need a social contract to keep us out of a state of nature, to create a clear sense of what rights we have and do not have, of contracts and how they are enforced. But this is a contemporary sense of the contract, it is designed to order society here and now, so that I don't kill or cheat you and you don't kill or cheat me. I certainly want to make sure that the contract is in place for the near future because the contracts I enter into will often involve delayed satisfaction. I'll give you the money now, and you give me the goods later.
But contracts with me cannot extend beyond my lifetime because then the person you contracted with no longer exists. Do I have an interest in the social contract considering future generations? If I have kids, sure, but what about in general? Is there a sense in the social contract that the society created is designed to be lasting beyond the implicit signatories of the contract as it is now? Does the social contract really include obligations for me to future generations or do we need something other than a social contract to make sense of such claims of obligation?
- Did Newt Gingrich's Wife Commit Adultery Too?
I was listening to a discussion about Newt Gingrich's conversion to Catholicism this morning and it glossed over the fact that he was with his current wife before he was no longer with his previous wife. It is clear that he committed adultery, but...
- Why Be Moral?
Heard an interview with theologian Bart Ehrman the other day in which he was saying that because Jesus was an apocalypticist who believed that the world as we know it would end in the very near future and the Kingdom of God would arrive on Earth in a...
- The Ethics Of Encores
I got drafted to write a piece in the forthcoming Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy, so I've decided to start thinking about encores. The E Street Band is famous for two and three encore performances, with the encore being the length of other bands'...
- Karma And Justice
Karma is supposedly a cosmic sense of justice, of just desserts, of reaping what one sows, of getting what one deserves. But the concept has the curious property of enlarging the scope of justice beyond the act to include other non-related acts -- that...
- Hud Secretary Jackson Was Not Drunk Last Night...
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson ? the one who said that only the best residents should be allowed to return to New Orleans public housing - publicly declared that he won't give government contracts to people based on their...