Welcome to my new social and political philosophy blog!
I derived the name of this blog , "Justice & Virtue," from two classic themes in political and moral philosophy. Discussions of what is just, and what is virtuous date back to antiquity. Some of the greatest discourse on the themes of justice and virtue can be found in Plato's Dialogues, particularly The Republic. In more contemporary times, John Rawls' seminal book, A Theory of Justice explores his ground-breaking theory of "justice as fairness."
This blog will be from a liberal, egalitarian perspective, favoring the tradition of philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Michael Walzer, John Rawls, G.A. Cohen, Karl Marx, Plato and Aristotle (of course!), and others. I do not dogmatically adhere to any one specific contemporary movement or party, I synthesize aspects of a variety of theories. I promote the values of positive liberty, equality of opportunity, social justice, equal rights for all, and an economic system which benefits all workers, not just an elite minority.
Ground Rules
I will here establish the ground rules which will be enforced throughout this blog, to be observed by myself and all who comment or contribute to the discourse.
- Treat others with civility, respect, and as much politeness as possible. Rudeness, insults, threats, and/or defamatory remarks will not be tolerated. It is at the discretion of myself, the blog author, whether a comment will be published or deleted. I use comment moderation, so all comments will be reviewed by me before being published. I will not censor comments which I disagree with, but I may censor comments which violate this rule (1). Cheap shots and chronically fallacious argumentation will be allowed, but is in poor taste, and will make you look bad!
- As more of a guideline, try to establish and defend your arguments and employ some reasoning. Unsupported opinions are everyone's right, but merely saying that "I think x" without a decent argument doesn't really accomplish much besides describing your preferences or emotional state of affairs. Don't be surprised if you declare that "I think that liberals are all commies and want to steal all my hard-earned money," someone responds, "that's nice, good for you."
- If you make a questionable claim in your premises, please be prepared to cite your sources if asked. I'm not suggesting that you need to provide a huge bibliography, but kindly allow others to review the material from which you derive your information. Part of a sound argument is true premises, so an opponent must be allowed to review the source of information to determine its veracity.
- Watch out for obvious fallacies in your comments and arguments. If you try to pull a "that magazine/journal/website/person is a commie liberal! You can't believe anything they say!" then I'll have to point you to a definition of the genetic fallacy. I've provided a link to a website with excellent descriptions and examples of logical fallacies in argumentation. Keep your arguments about the facts and the subject, and not on the source, and you'll be off to a good start!
- I reserve the right to edit or revise these ground rules at any point, for the benefit of discourse. I will try to only revise the rules as necessary to maintain a productive and civil atmosphere.
- Comments may be left "anonymously" for now, but I'm going to request (strongly request, bordering on requiring!) that you post your name at the bottom of your comment if you do post anonymously. Don't hide behind the veil of anonymity!
Have fun, enjoy the discussions, and use your brains!
~Ryan
