| Looking for a philosophical definition of "government" |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|12:55 pm] |
I'm a high school debate coach and our new resolution* has me searching for definitions of "government." I'm looking for one that defines the limits of government, some of students are looking for definitions that justify expansion of government.
Beyond Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes, is there a philosophy that we should explore? A philosopher or work we should read?
Thank you for your help.
*Resolved: Economic sanctions ought not to be used to achieve foreign policy objectives. Yes, the affirmative is arguing a negative. Someone out there hates me. XD |
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| Web Portrait |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|09:55 am] |
Now, the important questions to ask are:
- Which of these general errors is more common? That is to say, of the two events: [Person refuting scientific theory via silly, uneducated thought-experiment], and [Person refuting moral theory via silly, uneducated scientific data], which occurs more often? And,
- Which web-comic has a higher readership, and which one will thus continue to exert more influence on the population in general?
There could never be a more satisfying and simultaneously more depressing portrait of today's smug, self-aggrandizing, anti-philosophical, "scientific" intellectual than the XKCD comic. On the one hand, it's just a comic. On the other hand, the converse error (portrayed in the Chaospet comic) isn't just common, it's embodied in dozens of best-selling books, articles and television specials, all of which purport to tell us that the behaviour of animals is directly, even crucially relevant to human ethical ideas. The error portrayed in the XKCD comic is rarely committed, and rarely taken seriously. |
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