Author: Andrew Taggart
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Political Freedom, Slavery, & Manual Labor In Classical Athens: Parts I & II
It took me a little while to write Part II, so I thought I’d include both in what follows. In Part I (also included below), I discussed Benjamin Constant’s important essay. In Part II, I turn to the question of manual labor in Classical Athens and, in particular, to the way in which labor, often…
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The Benefits And Limits Of Cleaning Up
Yesterday I advanced an argument in support of “cleaning up.” Today I provide a separate argument the point of which is to ensure that cleaning up is put in its proper place. Defining Messiness Whenever you sense contractions in the body, strong feelings arising in the body, and mental proliferations, you’re very likely in the…
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The Incompleteness Of Something Like The Genetic Fallacy: On The Importance Of ‘Cleaning Up’
In philosophy, there is something called “the genetic fallacy.” It holds that it is illegitimate to consider the merits of an argument based partially or exclusively on the details of the arguer’s background. One should assess the argument from–to use John Rawls’ term–behind a “veil of ignorance.” To take an extreme example: to assess Ted…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 