(CLP) More on Paternalism

We briefly discussed Sunstein and Thaler's notion of "libertarian paternalism" effected by careful choice architecture. Here is a review by Sunstein of a new book by Sarah Conly arguing unabashedly for paternalism in public policy. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/mar/07/its-your-own-good/.

(WR) From the Ground Up

Judging from this last crop of Q&As, I have the impression that some of you are still expecting a course mainly about doctrinal or ritual details in the development of various branches of Christianity. Much of this is fascinating stuff, of course (and you are quite welcome to read books about it at your leisure) but for our purposes it is essentially travelogue -- colorful detail that makes little sense without a grounding in the guy who started it and an understanding of how to make sense of those pesky early texts (read between the lions!).

This is a bit like taking a chemistry course, but rushing past all the stuff about molecules and catalysts and mainly asking questions about how various mixed drinks taste. There is of course no shame in such curiosity, but it's premature where the aim is the serious study of anything.

Let me reiterate that the words, actions, and ideas of the historical Jesus do not reductively determine anything about the legitimate practice of subsequent Christianity -- but they do constitute a key element in any honest conversation about what it might mean to follow Jesus.

(WR) Good Thought

In class today, the question arose about whether Jesus' egalitarianism was fundamentally a social and economic or a spiritual matter, and Grace suggested that she thought it was both. This may be the most intelligent thing any of us have said this month. Given the very grounded nature of traditional Hebrew spirituality, it's even possible that Jesus, who was after all Jewish, wouldn't have seen much point in distinguishing between the two.

(CLP) Contra Moral Minimalism

Here is a column by economist Robert Reich, disputing the idea of moral minimalism as applied to the economic realm. I suspect analogous arguments apply to law as well.  http://truth-out.org/news/item/14661-the-minimum-wage-guns-healthcare-and-the-meaning-of-a-decent-society

(WR) Fabulous Blogging!

Thank you all for a very stimulating blogging week. Probably it helped that I was too busy myself to weigh in and thereby interrupt the many good threads you had going. Al topped the lot of you with ten posts and comments (all of them thoughtful and responsive, though some may be longer than they needed to be!), and all but six of you did the minimum of one post and two comments (only two failed to blog at all). I have the utmost faith that all of you will succeed next week.

As happened the previous week, your discussions inspired me to articulate or amplify a number of ideas that I want you all to think about for class this coming week, so please read over last week's blogs and comments as part of your assignment for class.

(CLP) Ronald Dworkin Dies

From Friday's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/us/ronald-dworkin-legal-philosopher-dies-at-81.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(CLP) Contra Sunstein

Here is an approving analysis of President Obama's State of the Union speech by philosopher and cognitive scientist George Lakoff. Interesting in its own right for what it says about how political discourse shapes deep moral narratives, it also constitutes a sophisticated challenge to Sunstein's advocacy of incompletely theorized agreements. Based on a sophisticated account of the way language works, Lakoff suggests that we actually agree on general principles, when they're framed carefully, more than Sunstein suspects.
 http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17808-how-the-state-of-the-union-worked