Suchergebnisse

"When reading John Stuart Mill, it's easy to have a sense of "déja vu all over again." At first sight, his ideas seem completely familiar, well understood, and thoroughly absorbed in the way we live now. Do we need him to explain the advantages of free speech and open debate? Or to emphasize attending to the consequences of actions? To protect differences that don't harm others, and to plead for equality of opportunity? Even if he once counted as "dangerous" or "subversive", he can appear all too tame today. On John Stuart Mill aims to approach him differently - not by rehearsing his (considerable) contributions to contemporary attitudes, but by starting just where the ideas he has bequeathed to us seem most problematic. Our own political debates hardly approximate the conditions envisaged in the famous defense of free speech. If we read more closely - and more widely - it becomes evident that he was already aware of the problem, and that he struggled to reconcile the claims of democracy with the importance of expertise. Those struggles can help us as we wrestle with kindred difficulties. In this extended, and beautifully written, essay, Kitcher develops some of Mill's ideas in the context of contemporary ethical, social, and political issues and debates, and what he would have made of them. These debates--such as those around government mandated Covid-19 masks and vaccines, Second Amendment worship, income inequality, gay marriage, and climate change--involve questions of individual freedom, free speech, equality, and utilitarianism, all of which are central to Mill's project. In doing so, Kitcher draws primarily, though not exclusively, on the three works by Mill (sometimes in close collaboration with Harriet Taylor) that typically feature on the Contemporary Civilization syllabus: On Liberty, Utilitarianism, and The Subjection of Women. He also discusses Mill's Principles of Political Economy. By focusing on questions that are salient today, he hopes to capture the tone of exploratory conversations at which Contemporary Civilization aims"--

John Stuart Mill expressed many of the central tenets of liberalism with unsurpassed clarity and enduring influence. Yet Mill's apparent victory in the marketplace of ideas has numbed us to the power of his arguments. To many readers today, his views can seem utterly familiar, even banal.Sharing insights from teaching Mill for many years, the eminent philosopher Philip Kitcher makes a cogent case for why we should read this nineteenth-century thinker now. He portrays Mill as a conflicted humanist who wrestled with problems that are equally urgent in our own time. Kitcher reflects on Mill's ideas in the context of contemporary ethical, social, and political issues such as COVID mandates, gun control, income inequality, gay rights, and climate change. More broadly, he shows, Mill's writings help us cultivate our own capacities for critical thought and ethical decision making.Inviting readers into a conversation with Mill, this book shows that he supplies tools for thinking that are as valuable today as they were in the nineteenth century

Intro -- Praise for Science in a Democratic Society -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Erosion of Scientific Authority -- 1. Disappointment and Overconfidence -- 2. The Division of Epistemic Labor -- 3. Sources of Trouble -- 4. Values and Science -- Chapter 2: Discussing Values -- 5. Ethics as a Human Project -- 6. Ethical Progress? -- 7. Renewing the Project -- 8. Values in Science -- Chapter 3: Democratic Values -- 9. Taking Democracy Seriously -- 10. Ideals of Freedom -- 11. Equality in Freedom -- 12. A Picture of Democracy -- Chapter 4: The Evolution of Public Knowledge -- 13. Origins -- 14. The Public Depository -- 15. Later Variants -- 16. From Private to Public -- Chapter 5: Well-Ordered Science -- 17. Scientific Significance -- 18. Well-Ordered Science: Explanation -- 19. Well-Ordered Science: Defense -- 20. Merely an Ideal? -- 21. Constraints on Pursuit -- Chapter 6: Public Reason -- 22. Problems of Certification? -- 23. Fraud and Misrepresentation in Scientific Research -- 24. Well-Ordered Certification and Ideal Transparency -- 25. The Role(s) of Philosophy of Science: A Brief Excursion -- 26. Chimeric Epistemologies and Opaque Value-Judgments -- 27. Suggestions for Improvement -- Chapter 7: Applications and Access -- 28. Using Public Knowledge -- 29. The Need for Improved Access -- 30. Science in Public Debate -- 31. The Shibboleth of "Free Discussion" -- 32. Educating Citizens -- Chapter 8: Diversity and Dissent -- 33. Diversity within Scientific Fields -- 34. Varieties of Diversity -- 35. Markets, Norms, and Team Players -- 36. Dissent -- 37. Political Entanglements? -- Chapter 9: Actual Choices -- 38. The History of Life -- 39. Biomedical Technology -- 40. Genetically Modified Organisms -- 41. Climate Change -- Notes -- References -- Index -- Back Cover.

Abstract:The concept of social progress I hope to rehabilitate will be local, far from locally complete, and permit only modest extensions; it will be pragmatic rather than teleological. In this way, it will hope to avoid treating the multiplicity of goods as if there were always the possibility of comparing them on a single scale, to abandon the idea of a final state toward which history is tending or should tend, and to substitute piecemeal accomplishments for utopian ends. Its emphasis on local comparisons will allow it to forgo sweeping historical comparisons, those juxtaposing the "enlightened" with "lesser breeds without the law," or the "ancients" with the "moderns." A restrained pragmatic concept of social progress honors the insights of critics of the notion of social progress, seeing them as questioning alleged presuppositions that can be given up.

AbstractThere are obvious reasons why citizens of the nations we mark out as democracies fail to support policies that address catastrophic threats. The current condition of many such nations allows for marked differences between preferences and interests (to the extent that the choice of the label 'democracy' can be seriously questioned). Failures in the transmission of crucial information are intensified because of market competition among media sources and widespread difficulties in understanding issues couched in terms of probabilities. Beyond these, however, are prevalent social conditions that interfere with citizens' abilities to discern their interests. I suggest an account of the notion of interests (and of the related concept of freedom) in terms of an environment that provides opportunities for reflective choice. Such environments are highly vulnerable, and political and economic institutions within 'democratic' nations can systematically destroy them. Throughout, I use the example of responses to climate change to illustrate my claims.