Re: More on "From Each According to His/Her Ability"

GeorgeCSDS@aol.com wrote:

(some very good material, perhaps too long for a single post  :)
on TOP@topica.com

Some of what Mr. George says reminds me of the work
by John Rawls, and in particular "A Theory of Justice."

Rawls died last year, and several newspapers picked up on
this, and there was a brief flourish of Rawls interest on
the "Open Spectrum" list, for example.

I suggest that anyone who wishes to espouse something other
than the current capitalistic 'blather,' should turn to Rawls
for his/her arguments about a contract that is made "under the
veil of ignorance" or what he calls the "primal position."

Briefly -- we sit around (perhaps as cavemen/women) and 
decide what "just distribution of wealth" should be -- not
knowing "what position" any one of us might have in the future.

Understand.  Our U.S. philosophy (or ideology) is, mostly, to
foster "greed" for the crumbs created for others.  And, Rawls
"approves" of that, to an extent.

And, when compared with the (prior) U.S.S.R. and their
experiments with "communal" approaches to wellbeing, we won
out.

However, that does not, necessarily mean that capitalism is
the "best" system -- simply, it was superior to a, as I 
understand, mostly bureaucratically run system.

Certainly we all, mostly, distrust decisions from a bureaucrat,
so, this comes as no surprise.

[yes, there are many times when the bureaucrat overrules the
present system, such as in the case of "health, safety, and
the environment" -- and, do consult, if you wish, my book:
"Risks, Concerns and Social Legislation:  Forces that led
to Laws on Health, Safety and the Environment" (in several
libraries, and available via inter-library loan).]

So, in summary, read Rawls (or some 'very good' account of
his books).

Regards,

Dr. Priest
Director




-- 


           W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
      Center for Information, Technology & Society
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