Arcus

Tom Sarbeck wrote:
@arcus asks, ‘Why such militarized language?’ I’ve been there. Try it some day.

And where is “that” exactly? Which dictatorship imprisoned and tortured you?

Admittedly I find expressions like the one in this post juvenile of the “I’m 14, and this is deep” type.

Tom Sarbeck wrote:
@Arcus-political combat, usually over economic issues, is not a philosophy or political science or history classroom.

“Political combat”.. Now there’s a Clausewitzian inspired expression if I’ve ever seen one. Why such militarized language?

I think you have, unwittingly perhaps, created a paradox.

Since you start with a dichotomy – that one is either weak or strong – then the weak cooperating will make them strong. And since the strong see brutalizing the weak as their categorical prerogative, they will then proceed to do just that.

That also fits quite well into the history of so…[Read more]

Both Haidt and Fiske are based on Schweder, but Fiske’s Models are easier to use to evaluate real life dilemmas because when the wrong model is used it is clearly a social faux pas.

For instance, if an acquaintance invites you to dinner you are supposed to used the communal sharing (CS) model of ethics – say thank you and compliment the food. I…[Read more]

The philosophical inquiry into ethics is a bit different than the anthropological/psychological inquiry into ethics. While not comparing, it’s about as related as law and criminology.

The quiz is based on Haidt’s Moral Foundations: http://moralfoundations.org/

His model is a development on Scweder’s Ethics, which divided moral concerns into:

1. Autonomy: Society is made up of individuals and morality should be about freeing them to make their own choices and be free from harm. Haidt divided this into two, care/harm and…[Read more]

Well… yes. World view comes from the Germanic concept of Weltanschauung. Part and somewhat parcel to this is the idea of a Life Stance . Indeed, in Germanic countries the term religion is superseded by the term life stance, for instance my middle school class that replaced Christianity was called Life Stance and my confirmation was Life Stance…[Read more]

@Unseen

There are a few cases to consider.

The background of the 1953 debt accords came 8 years after the war, when Germany was under occupation and management by the Allies, including having a constitution and massive social and legal reforms imposed. The country had also been split, lost territory, taken in 10% of its population as refugees,…[Read more]

This again? Let’s look at government spending as percentage of GDP from highs in 2009/10 to lows in 2013/14, retrieved from Eurostat:

-Ireland cut from 47.6% i 2009 to 39% in 2014. Down 8.6%
-Latvia cut from 44% i 2010 to 36% i 2013. Down 8%.
-Lithuania cut from 44.9% in 2009 to 34.9% in 2014. Down 10%(!)
-The UK cut from 49.7% in 2009 to 44.4%…[Read more]

Yeeeeeaaah… Trying to insult and shame the largest creditor may not be the best way to gain concessions, especially with a horribly flawed historical comparison. If the austerity measures were not merely about increasing taxes and tax collection, cutting pensions, and reducing a bloated public sector, but included terms such as stringing up…[Read more]