Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke, Grandstanding p. 5: …many people don’t see the downside of abusing moral talk. They act as if moral talk is always admirable (at least when their side does it). For these people, moral talk is magic. Invoking sacred words–justice, dignity, rights, equality, or honor, tradition, faith, and family–magically transforms your nasty, abusive, selfish behavior into …
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Academics are now rightfully confronting the bigotry and racism that pervades the history of philosophy. However, one philosopher is conspicuously absent from many of these accounts (including each one linked above): Karl Marx. … The comparative infrequency with which philosophers grapple with Marx’s bigotry is startling. (I’ll note in passing that the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on Marx and …
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The current state of discourse [in America] resembles a litigious battle where the only goal is victory. No quarter is given and no concession is made, since to do so would move the dialectic towards the kind of discussion in which ideas are presented, explored, and accepted or rejected based on their evidentiary support. The arguments taking place on online …
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The national media might have “moved on” from the riots in Minneapolis, but residents have nowhere to go. Much of the Twin Cities is still in ruins. Boarded-up storefronts still display makeshift notices that read “black owned” or “minority owned” to ward off further destruction. Many locals are reluctant to speak on the record, but some are eager to do …
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Overall, the cost-benefit analysis found that total costs in lost wages outweigh benefits measured in risk of death reduction by a factor of 14 to 1. The paper also touches on distributional impacts since further school closings would amount to a relatively small cost exacted on a large number of school-age children in exchange for a large benefit for a …
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In a study I did with Jesse Graham and Brian Nosek, we tested how well liberals and conservatives could understand each other. We asked more than two thousand American visitors to fill out the Moral Foundations Qyestionnaire. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out normally, answering as themselves. One-third of the time they were asked to …
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So what is Black Lives Matter really about? Many conservatives insist Black Lives Matter is a Marxist, anti-police, radical organization that wants to tear down America. Meanwhile, most liberals simply view Black Lives Matter as a heroic movement and powerful slogan signaling support for racial justice and opposition to police brutality. Both are right. There is Black Lives Matter™️, and there is …
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Seen from the outside, the Gospel appears as an unbearable imposition on my freedom. An unending list of do’s and don’ts. To use St Paul’s phrase, humanly speaking, that is in my spiritual or emotional immaturity, the Gospel feels to me likes “slavery.”
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…we can describe fundamental right-wing beliefs as follows: There is an essential meaning to human life and so there are virtues to realise that meaningful life. However, we naturally tend to fall short, entropically, from realising those virtues and ends of life. We, therefore, need ordering principles, customs, cultural institutions etc. to curb degeneration. Source: Rik Storey, How to Define …
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We must transform how antiracism work is carried out. An important first step is to actually listen to the people one is advocating for about their priorities and concerns, rather than simply assuming one can infer others’ interests or preferences from their demographic backgrounds, or selectively elevating (often non-representative) spokespeople who say what one wants to hear. History the U.S. and abroad is replete with examples of grievous harm caused by …
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