Chapter 2: The Good Life & Intersectionality

what are the differences in definitions of ‘the good life’?

locke’s argument isn’t only that such a life is available to those who have individual wealth, the good life also belongs to native american men and other POC purposely fail to see that the earth doesn’t belong to others

how does aristotle see the good life?

he thinks a good man is one who achieves eudaimonia through virtue, fulfilling his potential and living a life of moral excellence.

what’s king’s view of the good life?

the states would overcome racism when and if it became a society where all men lived together as brothers & honours the dignity of all human beings

what is nussbaum’s view of the good life?

the idea of development and how countries outside the northwest came to economically develop and seem stuck in a different cycle than the northwest

what is Deloria’s view of the good life?

she focuses on an indigenous perspective where we are also living in nature and have responsibilities, they bring another realm into this and its doing that within our natural context and giving it value

what is the good life in context?

• locke’s view on private wealth and property happened during a period when England’s agricultural sector was booming

• Deloria’s validation took place when the idea to save indigenous children was a hot topic

• nussbaum’s thinking took place during the emergence of feminism studies and developmental studies as legit academic fields

what are the 2 streams of intersectional thought?

intersectionality was created to explain the experiences of black women - there are a few ways to think of intersectionality

1. intersectionality is a framework to understand the lives of black women and scholars assume that intersectionality and its underlying logic is by black women for black women

2. intersectionality reveals how mutually reinforcing racism, sexism, classism… subordinate white working-class women, black men, and other groups such as the welfare state and the criminal justice system

what is classical liberalism?

they promote values such as individual liberty, freedom of speech, religious freedom, and economic self-interest

• the good life is one where the state plays a small role in people’s daily lives → just enough state power to guarantee individual security but not enough to threaten life and liberty

• according to mill, the best way to live the good life is to limit governmental authority by breaking down the scope into distinct legislative, executive, and judicial functions

what is marxism’s view on the role of the state?

to be a marxists to assume that capitalist economies always pay workers less than the price or value of what they make → the outcome is that the owners of the factories are wealthy because what consumers pay for these goods are much higher than the cost of making them

• marx wants a world where the state is replaced by an egalitarian utopia where people would be put in according to their ability and take out according to their need

• more recent thinkers believe that government intervention is crucial for ensuring that everyone is able to live the good life

• they guide us to consider state power as a generative resource to achieve a life characterized less by equality of opportunity and more by equality of social and economic outcomes