tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9279394.post2067035106119410239..comments2023-10-06T08:53:14.731-04:00Comments on Eternal vigilance: Can we choose to stay human?Ricketsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02579799843541826447noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9279394.post-45505673579686627102012-05-26T08:48:15.729-04:002012-05-26T08:48:15.729-04:00the communitarian objection here has both a concep...the communitarian objection here has both a conceptual and an empirical problem.<br /><br />The conceptual problem is that Aristotle's "virtue ethics" treats virtue as a skill to be learned. This makes it something that can be turned into a "Bacon App." You can d/l both the "skill" of Karate and the "virtue" of Karate.<br /><br />The empirical problem is that "Bacon Apps" are being exponentially accelerated by organs of the State. Since communitarians view the State as organic and not as artificial(as the liberals view it), they have to accept the acceleration of Bacon Apps as an organic process. Communitarianism proper doesn't really hold the role of the State to be an enforcer of a specific consensus; rather, the consensus must only be that the state is the organ that must serve to orient human agency around a "common good." Communitarians, then, if they are to adhere to their own political philosophy, cannot in any way deem "Bacon Apps" to be a moral violation.<br /><br />Liberals/Libertarians will view the State as artificial and may view the acceleration of "Bacon Apps" as an artificial process; but from an evolutionary standpoint that takes into account "path dependency," the artificial can become the natural.<br /><br />Btw, this is the problem I see with "social anarchism" that thinks commercial society would simply wilt away if not for the State. That ship has long since sailed, IMHO...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com