Social Philosophy Exam 2

What is the "living constitution" view?

You should interpret the text based on the "current times" and "context."

What is the "Conceptual Assumption"

It is about figuring out how an ordinary person living at the same time of the Constitution would have understood the words, based on their language and historical events happening then.

According to Fallon, what is "Original Public Meaning" originalism?

- "Original public meanings" is a theoretical construct
- The meaning of the text could be understood as what the public would have understood it to have meant at the time it was written

How would someone who follows this method of
legal interpretation likely interpret the sentence "It is illegal to shoot someone"? (from
the slides)

LC would say you can interpret this now as covering cases involving all types of firearms, current and past.

What is the "Interpretive Methodology Assumption"

We can figure out the meaning/intent of a law more or less the same way we figure out the meaning/intent of things said in every-day conversation.

And what are Fallon's 3 arguments against the Interpretive Methodology Assumption?

1- reasonable person standard- we might go with the reasonable person standard but… different reasonable people come up with different reasonable answers

2- there is a definite meaning- let's meet at the usual spot, you usually know what that means BECAUSE you know who is saying it to you- context, another way you can do that is to look at the history and context, but you cannot always figure out the context of the time

3- we often get things wrong in everyday conversation

What does Fallon mean when he says that OPM is a "theoretical construct"?

- OPM is a theoretical construct in the same way that "gross dominant product" and "IQ" are
- And there just is no correct or indisputable way of "measuring" or "defining" it - it all depends on the theory

What is unique about justice according to Nozick?

justice does not have an emotional tone, if it does have pleasure, it is a different kind. namely the pleasure that justice is being done.

What distinguishes justice from revenge?

"[r]evenge involves a particular emotional tone, pleasure in the suffering of another, while retribution either need involve no emotional tone, or involves another one, namely, pleasure at justice being done."

What are the three key features of retributive justice?

1. That those who commit certain wrongs (heinous crimes) morally deserve to suffer a proportionate punishment.
2. That it is morally good in itself when some legitimate punishing authority punishes a wrongdoer as they deserve
3. That it is morally impermissible to punish wrongdoers excessively (or to punish the innocent)

What counts as a democracy according to Levitsky and Ziblatt?

"System of government with regular, free, and fair elections, in which all adult citizens have the right to vote and possess basic civil liberties such as freedom of speech and association."

According to L&Z, how can we prevent democracies from dying? That is, what methods and safe-measure need to be put in place?

- Prevent the election of "Autocrats."
- You can prevent Autocrats by political parties not promoting them and educating the youth.

Who, according to L&Z, holds the most responsibility for autocrats/dictators coming into power?

Political Parties

Who do L&Z think counts as one of the oldest and most successful democracies?

- The U.S. but this is not true --> Swiss started in the 1848

How do autocrats tend to gain power according to L&Z?

- Gain legitimacy by being embraced by “insider” (already legitimate) parties

- These parties embrace the “outsider” because of their popularity and the insider’s belief that they can co-opt that popularity and control the outsider

According to L&Z what are the warning signs that someone is an authoritarian?

1. Rejects in words or action the democratic rules of the game
2. Denies the legitimacy of opponents
3. Tolerates or encourages violence
4. Indicates a willingness to curtain the civil liberties of opponents, including the media

What two basic norms do L&Z suggest have helped safeguard American democracy?

Mutual toleration, or the understanding that competing parties accept one another as legitimate rivals, and forbearance, or the idea that politicians should exercise restraint in deploying their institutional prerogatives

According to Stanley, what is the idea of the "mythic past"?

- Fascist politicians justify their ideas by breaking down a common sense of history in creating a mythic past to support their vision for the present. They rewrite the population’s shared understanding of reality by twisting the language of ideals through propaganda and promoting anti-intellectualism, attacking universities and educational systems that might challenge their ideas. Eventually, with these techniques, fascist politics creates a state of unreality ,in which conspiracy theories and fake news replace reasoned debate

- fascists manipulate history and truth to create a distorted version of reality where reasoned discussion is replaced by emotional, misleading stories, and where people are more likely to believe falsehoods and conspiracy theories instead of facts.

Does Stanley think that all fascist governments are patriarchal?

- Yes
- In the fascist imagination, the past invariably involves traditional, patriarchal gender roles.... But why is patriarchy so strategically central to fascist politics? In a fascist society, the leader of the nation is analogous to the father in the traditional patriarchal family."

What is Stanley's view of Hitler's "True Germanic Democracy"?

"Hitler is here drawing on the mythic past, when medieval German kings were elected for life. Whatever this system is, it is not recognizably democracy."

According to Stanley, how is the accusation of "Marxist/Marxism" used by fascists?

Typically used without any connection to Marx or Marxism, the expression is employed in fascist politics as away to malign equality. That is why universities that seek to give some intellectual space to marginalized perspectives, however small, are subject to denunciation as hotbeds of “Marxism.”

What is Einstein's view of human nature?

- Human nature is fixed in terms of biology..and yet, certain other aspects of human nature are shaped by human society - our values, our culture, our language

- We cannot live independently or in small groups because we are too interconnected/interdependent around the globe

Why is Einstein skeptical of the news media under capitalism?

"Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights."
- So, the quote is pointing out that the concentration of media and educational power in the hands of a few rich people can make it hard for individuals to think critically or make wise political choices.

What does Einstein see as one of the potential problems that must be avoided when implementing a socialist government?

Too much power in the central government- wielding power over everything they run, how do we figure out how to stop the government from having power and using it in an unfair way

What is the source of the "evil" today according to Einstein?

- The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil."
- We live in a situation where it is legal and people are incentivized to people to work against each other for personal gain while inevitably depriving others of the fruits of their labor...

According to Wolff, what are "power" and "authority"?

- Power is the ability to compel compliance, either through the use or the threat of force
- Authority is the right to common, and correlativity, the right to be obeyed

And what is it to be the
"autonomous" man?

The "autonomous" man is not subject to the will of another. He may do what another tells him, but not because he has been told to do it. He is therefore, in the politcal sense of the word, free.

What is the paradox of tolerance according to Popper? And why does it arise?

Written during WWII as a response to what Popper saw as the looming influence of totalitarianism and the need to intellectually defend liberal democracy and open society.

How do Godfrey-Smith and Kerr think that we can solve/dissolve the paradox of tolerance?

Make it illegal and be able to respond to it with force and rational discourse → ideal solution

2 Types of Paradox

1. Tolerance involves allowing
2. Intolerance
Intolerance can lead to the destruction of tolerance