You can't make a logical argument to convince people to uphold the human rights of others, says Richard Rorty. There's a better way to do it. Think narrative/performative.
Richard Rorty has an interesting take on human rights. If we want universal acceptance of and respect for human rights, we shouldn’t try to argue about it. We shouldn’t attempt to work out rational justifications of human rights, or arguments that will convince people that human rights are a good thing. Instead, according to Rorty, we would achieve better results if we try to influence people’s feelings instead of their minds. And the best way to do that is by telling sentimental stories like “Uncle Tom’s cabin” or “Roots” etc., or by making political art. Such stories and art make the reader sympathize with persons whose rights are violated because they invite the audience or the reader to imagine what it is like to be in the victim’s position. More...
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A billion hungry people
This is general background that you should have under your belt. People are starving, and probably governments are to blame (theirs and ours).
'The number of people who do not get enough food energy, averaged over one year, to both maintain productive activity and maintain body weight’ is now over one billion.' The reasons for this rise are complex... Caroline Boin, a project director at International Policy Network, puts the blame squarely at the feet of governments. ‘Barriers to trade are four times higher in developing countries than in high-income countries. Farmers are hit especially hard: overall, African farmers pay 60 per cent more in export taxes than other African businesses. More generally, many developing country policies have disadvantaged and exploited their agricultural sectors, in order to subsidise more grandiose urban activities. Food marketing boards and heavy tariffs on the agriculture sector have deterred investments that would have increased agricultural output.’ While developing-world government policies have stifled agricultural development, they are often inspired by Western organisations. ‘Despite the widespread failure of protectionist policies in agriculture, many Western NGOs continue to support the idea of self-sufficiency and protectionism. They argue that developing countries, which are so reliant on agriculture, should be able to protect themselves from the vagaries of the market. But as appealing as these ideas may seem, they are at complete odds with reality.’ More...
'The number of people who do not get enough food energy, averaged over one year, to both maintain productive activity and maintain body weight’ is now over one billion.' The reasons for this rise are complex... Caroline Boin, a project director at International Policy Network, puts the blame squarely at the feet of governments. ‘Barriers to trade are four times higher in developing countries than in high-income countries. Farmers are hit especially hard: overall, African farmers pay 60 per cent more in export taxes than other African businesses. More generally, many developing country policies have disadvantaged and exploited their agricultural sectors, in order to subsidise more grandiose urban activities. Food marketing boards and heavy tariffs on the agriculture sector have deterred investments that would have increased agricultural output.’ While developing-world government policies have stifled agricultural development, they are often inspired by Western organisations. ‘Despite the widespread failure of protectionist policies in agriculture, many Western NGOs continue to support the idea of self-sufficiency and protectionism. They argue that developing countries, which are so reliant on agriculture, should be able to protect themselves from the vagaries of the market. But as appealing as these ideas may seem, they are at complete odds with reality.’ More...
Voting felons
This was a topic a while ago, and a pretty interesting one.
Taking away someone’s human rights can only be done for a good reason, for example if this is necessary in order to protect other people’s rights. So we can imprison people and take away their freedom of movement if there is no other way to protect the security and property of other people. However, I always failed to understand the benefits of taking away prisoners’ right to vote. And completely incomprehensible is the permanent disenfranchisement after a felony conviction. The reason can’t be because they’re not worthy to vote. I can think of many other people who could be considered not worthy to vote. If we go down that road, we might as well abolish democracy altogether and hand over power to the intellectual and virtuous elite, if such a thing exists. More...
Taking away someone’s human rights can only be done for a good reason, for example if this is necessary in order to protect other people’s rights. So we can imprison people and take away their freedom of movement if there is no other way to protect the security and property of other people. However, I always failed to understand the benefits of taking away prisoners’ right to vote. And completely incomprehensible is the permanent disenfranchisement after a felony conviction. The reason can’t be because they’re not worthy to vote. I can think of many other people who could be considered not worthy to vote. If we go down that road, we might as well abolish democracy altogether and hand over power to the intellectual and virtuous elite, if such a thing exists. More...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Assisted suicide
The ultimate act of autonomy is a hearty perennial in debate circles. And it's legal, in some places. The problem becomes that AS becomes an option only for the rich.
Class discrimination is one of the problems arising from the policies of many countries: by outlawing the practice of assisted suicide, against sound moral arguments, they force people to go abroad to find an expensive solution in more liberal countries (such as Switzerland). Poor people wanting to exercise their right to self-determination, are stuck with the “cheap and dirty” solutions or with no solution at all if they are incapacitated and can’t take matters into their own hands. More...
Class discrimination is one of the problems arising from the policies of many countries: by outlawing the practice of assisted suicide, against sound moral arguments, they force people to go abroad to find an expensive solution in more liberal countries (such as Switzerland). Poor people wanting to exercise their right to self-determination, are stuck with the “cheap and dirty” solutions or with no solution at all if they are incapacitated and can’t take matters into their own hands. More...
The Vatican discusses ETs
Ultimately, the chief theological question for believers would be whether their deity had arranged for a separate salvation (whatever that is) of intelligent aliens or should they be proselytized? More...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Executing gays in Uganda
Well, that headline speaks for itself.
“Carnal knowledge against the order of nature” – as homosexuality is termed in Ugandan law – is already punishable with life imprisonment. However, if passed, the new bill will widen the scope, including promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house “for purposes of homosexuality”. This means that the relatives and friends of gay couples could face execution if they allow them to stay in their homes. More...
“Carnal knowledge against the order of nature” – as homosexuality is termed in Ugandan law – is already punishable with life imprisonment. However, if passed, the new bill will widen the scope, including promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house “for purposes of homosexuality”. This means that the relatives and friends of gay couples could face execution if they allow them to stay in their homes. More...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
NPR on women in college
And getting more (and dumber) men in to join them. One interesting sidebar (undeveloped in the story) was that all those women in the imbalanced ratios were somehow driving the poor guys hormone crazy, explaining their bad grades. Nice try.
Today women earn about 60 percent of all bachelor's degrees. The concern is that some colleges are so worried about becoming overwhelmingly female that they are discriminating against qualified women and choosing less qualifed males. More...
Today women earn about 60 percent of all bachelor's degrees. The concern is that some colleges are so worried about becoming overwhelmingly female that they are discriminating against qualified women and choosing less qualifed males. More...
Women's rights were a joke?
Literally. This is a fascinating anecdote worth following up on.
The U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 was drafted for the purpose of eliminating racial discrimination in employment, but it was amended during the Congressional debate to prohibit discrimination against women as well. However, as N.Y. Times columnist Gail Collins points out in her brilliant new book, that amendment was added to the Bill by arch-segregationist Congressman Howard Smith from Virginia in a whimsical effort to make the whole thing unpalatable to his mostly-male colleagues in the House of Representatives. But to his surprise, the Civil Rights Act passed anyway. This was the most important single step on the road to equal rights for women in America, and it came about as the result of a joke. More...
The U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 was drafted for the purpose of eliminating racial discrimination in employment, but it was amended during the Congressional debate to prohibit discrimination against women as well. However, as N.Y. Times columnist Gail Collins points out in her brilliant new book, that amendment was added to the Bill by arch-segregationist Congressman Howard Smith from Virginia in a whimsical effort to make the whole thing unpalatable to his mostly-male colleagues in the House of Representatives. But to his surprise, the Civil Rights Act passed anyway. This was the most important single step on the road to equal rights for women in America, and it came about as the result of a joke. More...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Rampant Rand (again)
This article in Reason is perhaps the best I've read in summing up her ladyship.
While complaints about Rand’s prose and character development are perennial, the nub of Atlas hatred isn’t literary: It’s the idea that Rand’s work is positively evil, celebrating a raw selfishness and glorying in a lack of compassion for anyone who fails to be a heroic producer, or even so much as disagrees with any aspect of Rand’s complicated system of epistemology and ethics. As Gore Vidal wrote in Esquire back in 1961, Rand’s “ ‘philosophy’ is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous.” More...
While complaints about Rand’s prose and character development are perennial, the nub of Atlas hatred isn’t literary: It’s the idea that Rand’s work is positively evil, celebrating a raw selfishness and glorying in a lack of compassion for anyone who fails to be a heroic producer, or even so much as disagrees with any aspect of Rand’s complicated system of epistemology and ethics. As Gore Vidal wrote in Esquire back in 1961, Rand’s “ ‘philosophy’ is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous.” More...
Would Scalia dissent on Brown v Board?
I love this sort of article.
Brown presents originalists with a problem. The weight of the historical evidence is that the people who drafted, proposed and ratified the 14th Amendment from 1866 to 1868 did not believe themselves to be doing away with segregated schools. Yet Brown is widely thought to be a moral triumph. A theory of constitutional interpretation that cannot account for Brown is suspect if not discredited. Originalists hate the subject. Justice Scalia has called it “waving the bloody shirt of Brown.” More...
Brown presents originalists with a problem. The weight of the historical evidence is that the people who drafted, proposed and ratified the 14th Amendment from 1866 to 1868 did not believe themselves to be doing away with segregated schools. Yet Brown is widely thought to be a moral triumph. A theory of constitutional interpretation that cannot account for Brown is suspect if not discredited. Originalists hate the subject. Justice Scalia has called it “waving the bloody shirt of Brown.” More...
Monday, November 9, 2009
Cap Pun -- deterrence fails
Deterrence doesn't work. I'm shocked, shocked to hear it, but most people believe it (including those who support CP). This paper is the latest.
The findings demonstrate an overwhelming consensus among these criminologists that the empirical research conducted on the deterrence question strongly supports the conclusion that the death penalty does not add deterrent effects to those already achieved by long imprisonment. More...
The findings demonstrate an overwhelming consensus among these criminologists that the empirical research conducted on the deterrence question strongly supports the conclusion that the death penalty does not add deterrent effects to those already achieved by long imprisonment. More...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Declaration then the Constitution
Lincoln was a key figure in making the Declaration a key document in our understanding of our nation. American Scripture makes this case well. Meanwhile, this article is a good application.
Equal rights and the consent of the governed are the principles that make self-government intelligible in the first place. Without them, of course, there are no real limits to what majorities can enact, including doing away with democratic rule... Once "all men are created equal" is dispensed with, once it is no longer held to apply to a certain group of people, what might limit the arbitrary rule of a few, or one, over other groups without their consent? More...
Equal rights and the consent of the governed are the principles that make self-government intelligible in the first place. Without them, of course, there are no real limits to what majorities can enact, including doing away with democratic rule... Once "all men are created equal" is dispensed with, once it is no longer held to apply to a certain group of people, what might limit the arbitrary rule of a few, or one, over other groups without their consent? More...
Social justice
This is a phrase with a unique meaning that might not be obvious.
But what is social justice? I’m not naïve. From Sharpton to Wright social justice has come to means redressing the wrongs of the past in the form of government benefits or reparations. The expression has a hint of retribution as in “you owe us.” In actuality, the words haven’t any real meaning. There are always those who grieve, and as long as the government attempts to satisfy those with a gripe, the plaintive cry for social justice will have irresistable appeal. More...
But what is social justice? I’m not naïve. From Sharpton to Wright social justice has come to means redressing the wrongs of the past in the form of government benefits or reparations. The expression has a hint of retribution as in “you owe us.” In actuality, the words haven’t any real meaning. There are always those who grieve, and as long as the government attempts to satisfy those with a gripe, the plaintive cry for social justice will have irresistable appeal. More...
Best autism article I've seen in a while
Since the subject comes up (and, hopefully, quickly goes down) in Nov-Dec, how about a seriously realistic lecture on the subject? You might find fodder here for half a dozen future topics.
This is not to dismiss the importance of continuing to pursue research in genetics and neuroscience: this is far more likely to yield long-term results than chasing vaccines or any of the other toxic fantasies of the environmentalists. It is simply to recognise that for individuals and families affected by autism today the pursuit of ‘cause and cure’ misses the point: we need interventions that will make life better for people with autism in the here and now. More...
This is not to dismiss the importance of continuing to pursue research in genetics and neuroscience: this is far more likely to yield long-term results than chasing vaccines or any of the other toxic fantasies of the environmentalists. It is simply to recognise that for individuals and families affected by autism today the pursuit of ‘cause and cure’ misses the point: we need interventions that will make life better for people with autism in the here and now. More...
Infallible search by canines
It's always something. I had no idea that SCOTUS thought dogs were invincible. They've been reading too many comic books or something.
In Caballes v. Illinois, the 2005 Supreme Court decision that upheld the use of drug-sniffing canines during routine traffic stops, dissenting Justice David Souter noted that "the infallible dog...is a creature of legal fiction." Since false "alerts" seem to be fairly common, Souter warned, it's not safe to assume that signals from police dogs reliably indicate the presence of illegal substances, a premise underlying the Court's conclusion that a dog sniff does not count as a "search" for Fourth Amendment purposes. More...
In Caballes v. Illinois, the 2005 Supreme Court decision that upheld the use of drug-sniffing canines during routine traffic stops, dissenting Justice David Souter noted that "the infallible dog...is a creature of legal fiction." Since false "alerts" seem to be fairly common, Souter warned, it's not safe to assume that signals from police dogs reliably indicate the presence of illegal substances, a premise underlying the Court's conclusion that a dog sniff does not count as a "search" for Fourth Amendment purposes. More...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Damned lies
P.A.P.'s articles on statistics are always enlightening.
A certain company discovered that 40% of all sick days were taken on a Friday or a Monday. They immediately clamped down on sick leave before they realised their mistake. Forty percent represents two days out of a five day working week and is therefore a normal spread. Nothing to do with lazy employees wishing to extend their weekends. They are just as sick on any other day. More...
A certain company discovered that 40% of all sick days were taken on a Friday or a Monday. They immediately clamped down on sick leave before they realised their mistake. Forty percent represents two days out of a five day working week and is therefore a normal spread. Nothing to do with lazy employees wishing to extend their weekends. They are just as sick on any other day. More...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Rampant Rand
Ayn Rand is all over the place these days, thanks to a couple of new biographies. Breaking with (my personal) tradition, how about saying something nice about the woman?
It used to be commonly said that “Until Robinson Crusoe is joined by Friday there is no need for ethics on a desert island.” Rand replied that it was on a desert island that ethics was most needed because on a desert island you cannot free ride on the virtues of others; if you are to survive you must yourself exercise the virtues of rationality, independence, and productiveness. As her reply indicates, Rand was an exponent of virtue ethics, the Greek/Aristotelian idea that ethics is about how one should live. Indeed, although she does not get much credit, Rand is the most prominent and lucid, contemporary exponent of virtue ethics. More...
It used to be commonly said that “Until Robinson Crusoe is joined by Friday there is no need for ethics on a desert island.” Rand replied that it was on a desert island that ethics was most needed because on a desert island you cannot free ride on the virtues of others; if you are to survive you must yourself exercise the virtues of rationality, independence, and productiveness. As her reply indicates, Rand was an exponent of virtue ethics, the Greek/Aristotelian idea that ethics is about how one should live. Indeed, although she does not get much credit, Rand is the most prominent and lucid, contemporary exponent of virtue ethics. More...
Monday, November 2, 2009
Nov-Dec, from Wired
Wired chimes in on the autism "debate."
This isn’t a religious dispute, like the debate over creationism and intelligent design. It’s a challenge to traditional science that crosses party, class, and religious lines. It is partly a reaction to Big Pharma’s blunders and PR missteps, from Vioxx to illegal marketing ploys, which have encouraged a distrust of experts. It is also, ironically, a product of the era of instant communication and easy access to information. The doubters and deniers are empowered by the Internet (online, nobody knows you’re not a doctor) and helped by the mainstream media, which has an interest in pumping up bad science to create a “debate” where there should be none. More...
This isn’t a religious dispute, like the debate over creationism and intelligent design. It’s a challenge to traditional science that crosses party, class, and religious lines. It is partly a reaction to Big Pharma’s blunders and PR missteps, from Vioxx to illegal marketing ploys, which have encouraged a distrust of experts. It is also, ironically, a product of the era of instant communication and easy access to information. The doubters and deniers are empowered by the Internet (online, nobody knows you’re not a doctor) and helped by the mainstream media, which has an interest in pumping up bad science to create a “debate” where there should be none. More...
Religion meets germs
If you followed my series on religion last week, and you've been researching for Nov-Dec, you're in for a treat.
Faith is about an individual's personal relationship to God, but worship is a contact sport. Since before the dawn of history people have been gathering for religious rituals, to pray and to praise together -- and for just as long they have been spreading disease through their interactions. Hence the growing alarm among religious leaders and congregants alike over the possibility of a swine flu epidemic. It is a concern that runs across national and religious boundaries. More...
Faith is about an individual's personal relationship to God, but worship is a contact sport. Since before the dawn of history people have been gathering for religious rituals, to pray and to praise together -- and for just as long they have been spreading disease through their interactions. Hence the growing alarm among religious leaders and congregants alike over the possibility of a swine flu epidemic. It is a concern that runs across national and religious boundaries. More...
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