PHILOS 2G03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Akrasia, Assistant Professor, Political Philosophy
25 May 2019
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Document Summary
Assistant professor of philosophy at the university of michigan. Works on political philosophy, especially the work of mlk jr and gandhi. Narrow normative concept of distrust: distrust is democratically valuable in that it is politically useful in motivating collective action. King points to evidence from his correspondence with, and his interaction with, supposedly supportive white moderates. This evidence show that they will not bring about an end to injustice without some sort of push. Conservatism or maintaining the status quo is too easy when one is not suffering from the injustice of the situation. King"s criticism is primarily about the disconnect between white moderate"s actions and white moderate claims. White moderates "had the right reasons for acting but still failed to act" Classical problem in philosophy: akrasia is acting against one"s own better judgement through weakness of will -- knowing what your ought to do but doing otherwise. In this case, conservatism and inaction are easier than action.
