Comments on: Year-End Recap of All History, Philosophy, Politics http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/ Conservatism for punks. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:36:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.9 by: Brain http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9133 Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:31:51 +0000 http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9133 Dismissing the ability to understand others' needs and wants as dependent on telepathy is sophomoric solipsism. We rely on others for most of our needs and wants. How we negotiate those transactions is the question of political economy, and the argument of the anarcho-capitalists is that those negotiations are best done with money and little government oversight. This is an excellent argument if you are rich. Has there ever been a prosperous modern society that did not depend on strong statist mechanisms for determining property rights and wealth distribution? Oh, and just to channel some partisanship into the discussion: your feet are stinky and you drink red wine with fish and you frequently jaywalk after sunset. So there. Dismissing the ability to understand others’ needs and wants as dependent on telepathy is sophomoric solipsism.

We rely on others for most of our needs and wants. How we negotiate those transactions is the question of political economy, and the argument of the anarcho-capitalists is that those negotiations are best done with money and little government oversight. This is an excellent argument if you are rich. Has there ever been a prosperous modern society that did not depend on strong statist mechanisms for determining property rights and wealth distribution?

Oh, and just to channel some partisanship into the discussion: your feet are stinky and you drink red wine with fish and you frequently jaywalk after sunset. So there.

]]> by: Todd Seavey http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9116 Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:54:36 +0000 http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9116 Precisely because we can't accurately measure others' utility (absent telepathy -- one of many things, like time "before" the Big Bang that I say there is no evidence for, _without_ dogmatically dismissing), we ought to leave them free to act upon their own, introspectively-observed, utility functions (so long as they do not harm others, which would return us to an uncertain state where we can't know if happiness in total is going up or down -- thus the classic utilitarian/libertarian formulation of John Stuart Mill that your liberty to enjoy swinging your fist ends at my nose). Kids, as we all know from our own experiences, need more guidance and are less likely to reliably act in their own long-term best interest (and it is the total happiness over the long term that matters, so utilitarians obviously aren't opposed to injections or pain during childbirth). It makes sense to let parental decisions override (some) child choices, gradually deferring more to the child's own judgment as she matures -- but I don't pretend there's a clear cut-off for majority and responsibility (nor can any other philosophy, of course). In other words, utility is out there, but it's best to leave individuals as free as possible to find it, barring reducing others'. Precisely because we can’t accurately measure others’ utility (absent telepathy — one of many things, like time “before” the Big Bang that I say there is no evidence for, _without_ dogmatically dismissing), we ought to leave them free to act upon their own, introspectively-observed, utility functions (so long as they do not harm others, which would return us to an uncertain state where we can’t know if happiness in total is going up or down — thus the classic utilitarian/libertarian formulation of John Stuart Mill that your liberty to enjoy swinging your fist ends at my nose).

Kids, as we all know from our own experiences, need more guidance and are less likely to reliably act in their own long-term best interest (and it is the total happiness over the long term that matters, so utilitarians obviously aren’t opposed to injections or pain during childbirth). It makes sense to let parental decisions override (some) child choices, gradually deferring more to the child’s own judgment as she matures — but I don’t pretend there’s a clear cut-off for majority and responsibility (nor can any other philosophy, of course).

In other words, utility is out there, but it’s best to leave individuals as free as possible to find it, barring reducing others’.

]]> by: Ken Silber http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9115 Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:37:05 +0000 http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9115 Todd, your belief that we'll never know anything about what happened before the Big bang is itself an unempirical, a priori supposition that<a href="http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/07/01/what-happened-before-the-big-bang/" rel="nofollow"> may be wrong.</a> Therefore you should support McCain. Todd, your belief that we’ll never know anything about what happened before the Big bang is itself an unempirical, a priori supposition that may be wrong.

Therefore you should support McCain.

]]> by: Brain http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9072 Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:01:15 +0000 http://toddseavey.com/2007/12/30/year-end-recap-of-all-history-philosophy-politics/#comment-9072 how do you measure happiness, or more broadly, satisfaction? And what about when you get pleasure from other's pain, or at least your pleasure seeking inadvertently causes others pain? And what about suffering that leads to more happiness, such as childbirth? And speaking of children, at what point are they considered autonomous beings, and why must they suffer for the sins and shortcomings of their parents? And what happens if you eat pork? Do you go to Hell? how do you measure happiness, or more broadly, satisfaction? And what about when you get pleasure from other’s pain, or at least your pleasure seeking inadvertently causes others pain? And what about suffering that leads to more happiness, such as childbirth? And speaking of children, at what point are they considered autonomous beings, and why must they suffer for the sins and shortcomings of their parents?

And what happens if you eat pork? Do you go to Hell?

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