What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics | 96 comments (96 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 6)

Another important strand of ET thought is that we're not productivists: There is a level of economic activity that would satisfy us, and it is for most of us somewhat below the current level of economic activity in The West^TM - or at least not greatly beyond it. Contrast this with the prevalent productivist ideologies that form the accepted political spectrum - the mainstream Left is just as insistent in its cries for MORE! as the Right, although it couches its voracity in somewhat softer tones.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 03:51:36 PM EST

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 5)

This is one of the next installments I was planning -I was going to talk about sustainability.
Although by that I understood not only with regards to natural resources but also avoiding systemic failures (such as unchecked compound interest).

Not being productivists is clearly a major common factor in ET.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 05:24:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 4)

Cyrille:

Not being productivists

slackers inc.

hey, trying to stay abreast of current events is hard work!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 05:45:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 2)

"trying to stay abreast of current events is..." is largely an unpaid civic duty not included in GDP or GNP. That duty, like the raising and socialization of children, is crucial to the survival of a democratic society, but is an externality from the point of view of Classical or Neo-Classical Economics. But then business is the staunchest bastion of autocratic rule in our society and is often defended on grounds of economic efficiency, regardless of the facts and business has often enough been quite happy in the embrace of authoritarians and fascists.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Oct 2nd, 2010 at 08:06:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Satisficing may also goes for the ethics, ... (4.00 / 5)

... if the material life and material opportunities facing the worst off is, in some sense, good enough, then there are other things to pursue: there is no single measuring stick that can be used to weight and measure all things that make of quality of life.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 11:36:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 7)

Although, thinking about it, our not being productivist is not only because of our desire for sustainability, but also derives from our doubts about GDP as an indicator of the success of a society.

We tend to be qualitativists ;-)

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 05:41:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 6)

Quotations from Berlin

Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.

ET in a nutshell...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 05:59:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 4)

Indeed.

It comes down to the quality, rather than the quantity, of production and hence to the denominator of GDP.

£, $ and € just don't cut it IMHO as a unit of measure: an energy unit, on the other hand, just might.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 06:08:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 3)

Sustainability is part of it, and having deconstructed the standard metrics of Growth^TM is part of it. But I also sense a deeper undercurrent of dissent from the mantra that having more toys makes your playtime better. And an understanding that, in The West^TM at least, Growth^TM is in the business of producing more toys, not a better coverage of the necessaries of life.

We do not applaud the efforts of the squirrel to keep abreast of the wheel that is propelled by his own efforts.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Sep 29th, 2010 at 07:48:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics (4.00 / 2)

Well, you've won, I think I'll make it the next chapter, before even going into details about sustainability.

We take it for granted in those parts that GDP is a broken metric, yet a new reader would probably come with the idea that it's the natural target for any society. This is therefore an important distinctive trait.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Thu Sep 30th, 2010 at 02:18:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

What we stand for: Quasi-Rawlsian ethics | 96 comments (96 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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