Tag: social justice
-
Where Does Racism Come From? A Response to Michael Huemer
By Kevin Currie-Knight ___ Philosopher Michael Huemer thinks we should stop talking to kids about race so much, at least in their social studies classes at school. In a recent piece for the Fake Nous, he argues that if racism is at all evident in today’s culture, it probably has to do with the fact […]
-
The Uses of Diversity
by Kevin Currie-Knight ____ Imagine that you are in charge of some workplace. You look around and notice that while you are located in an area chock full of diversity of all kinds – racial, religious, and the like – your staff and customers are quite homogenous. Suppose that in your case, you are concerned […]
-
New Year Musings
by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ 2021 was dominated by Covid. But, competing for our attention has been the deepening and hardening of our political divisions, with Trumpers on one fringe, Social Justice lunatics on the other, and the bewildered, seemingly impotent majority of the country in between, wondering what the hell is going on and […]
-
Robert Talisse on “Sustaining Democracy”
by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ I spoke with Robert Talisse of Vanderbilt University about his new book “Sustaining Democracy: What We Owe to the Other Side ” (Oxford UP, 2021). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rrVVSHYPjA&t=2905s&ab_channel=ElectricAgora 2:00 The relationship between “Sustaining Democracy” and “Overdoing Democracy” 17:45 The democrat’s dilemma and the conflict between the two moral requirements of democratic citizenship. […]
-
On The Journal of Controversial Ideas
by Robert Gressis ___ Recently, a new journal, the Journal of Controversial Ideas (JCI), has emerged. Edited by Jeff McMahan, Francesca Minerva, and Peter Singer, its aim is not only to publish controversial ideas, but to allow them to be published pseudonymously. One reaction to JCI’s emergence that came almost immediately from a number of […]
-
Imagination Under Threat: New Constraints on Literature and Acting
by Miroslav Imbrišević ‘The man who has no imagination has no wings.’ –Muhammad Ali ___ A new paradigm has emerged in literature and acting. Imagination and artistic ability are suspect unless they are accompanied by personal experience. This is the latest prescription in the arts. Social justice activists demand authenticity, if the art in question […]
-
Debating Standpoint Theory
Crispin Sartwell (Dickinson College) and I discussed/debated the relative merits (or lack thereof) of Standpoint Theory, in light of my recent essay on the subject. This dialogue first appeared on MeaningofLife.TV, as part of the Sophia program. https://theelectricagora.com/2020/10/07/social-justice-discourse-and-the-question-of-standpoints/ https://youtu.be/r2AGlQ9aG2U
-
Social Justice Discourse and the Question of “Standpoints”
by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ My remarks here are anticipatory of a more thorough treatment of the question of Standpoint Epistemology – or “Theory” – in conversation with Crispin Sartwell, who finds the notion amenable. I do not, and a brief back-and-forth on the topic on Twitter convinced me that our differences were worth exploring […]
-
Larousse Concise Woke-English/English-Woke Dictionary
by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ Every culture and sub-culture develops and employs its own distinctive terminology and sometimes even its own language. At times, these linguistic innovations may be difficult to understand, especially in the absence of competent bilinguals. Perhaps one of the best contemporary examples of such a language is that of the Woke […]
-
Coronavirus Musings
by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ [1] Using online communications platforms as a replacement for in-person, physical socializing had already done enormous damage to human relationships – and especially those of young people – well before the social distancing mandates required to combat the novel coronavirus were imposed. I am worried that this collective social ineptitude […]