PHILOS 1B03 Lecture 3: philos1b03_3.pdf
13 Nov 2014
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Document Summary
A distillation of criticisms of charters and charter review. The threat of radical disagreement: ulysses and the mast: tying ourselves to the mast of charter rights and ulysses" decision to tie to mast decision influenced by sailors. Judges as philosopher kings and queens: plato"s imagined utopia ruled by enlightened philosophers. Crucial point of disanalogy: ulysses knows in advance what he wants to avoid. Knows what will happen if he listens to the sirens while not restrained. We do not know in advancewhat we want to avoid. Deep disagreement on how to interpret charter rights. In other words: we can"t agree on what the mast is, therefore we don"t know where to tie ourselves. The people-now vs. the people-then: changing views on topics; e. g. equality rights in the usa saying blacks didn"t have rights obviously that has changed. Entrenchment; the dead hand of the past keeps its grip on the present.
