Sublime

Which raises the question: What constitutes merit? Who gets to decide what ingredients go into the mix to make up what is often a very subjective judgment of a person's capabilities? These questions were (and are) critical, given the role merit plays in maintaining the status quo. Peoplein power, in any field or society, have a vested interest in b

Le socialisme, qui me sembla bientôt une possibilité fort séduisante, se révéla tout aussi peu concluant : avec le temps, je finis par comprendre, notamment grâce au grand George Orwell, qu’une grande partie de ce courant de pensée trouvait son inspiration non pas dans le respect des plus démunis, mais dans la haine des riches et de ceux qui réussi

All social inequality, in the long run, is inequality of income. That is part of the argument for democracy: that the attempt to have a “proportionate justice” based on any merit other than wealth is sure to break down. Defenders of oligarchy pretend that income is proportional to virtue; the prophet said he had never seen a righteous man begging h

What about democracy? Most political philosophers agree that democracy has instrumental value. It functions pretty well and tends to produce relatively just outcomes. So, they think, democracy is valuable at least in the way a hammer is valuable. Most philosophers, however, also think we should value democracy the way we value a painting or person.

Regardless of how exactly one generates theories of other people's minds, it's clear that these theories profoundly affect moral decisions. Look, for example, at the ultimatum game, a staple of experimental economics. The rules of the game are simple, if a little bit unfair: an experimenter pairs two people together, and hands one of them ten dolla

the liberal story learned from communism to expand the circle of empathy and to value equality alongside liberty.

We all approach our own circumstances as bearers of a particular social identity. I am someone’s son or daughter, someone’s cousin or uncle; I am a citizen of this or that city, a member of this or that guild or profession; I belong to this clan, that tribe, this nation. Hence what is good for me has to be the good for one who inhabits these roles.