Value Debate

1. Value Debate Mr. Lyke Speech & Debate

2. THE PLACE OF VALUE IN ACTION

3. APPLICATION • A proposition of value is a claim that someone or something (the matter under consideration) is good or bad, noble or evil, desirable undesirable, etc.(the problematic) For instance, you might claim that

4. Laws requiring all restaurants to ban smoking are just/unjust. • Bill Clinton was a superlative/horrible president. • Sports programs are desirable/undesirable components of public high schools. • The Supreme Court decision authorizing the use of vouchers in private education was desirable/undesirable. • Affirmative action is a desirable/undesirable social policy. • Eliminating the Columbus Day holiday was sensible/ridiculous.

5. PROCEDURE • Proving a "value proposition" entails two main tasks: • Criteria justification. • Apply the criteria to matter under consideration.

6. Criteria justification. • The truth of any value claim depends on the truth of a more general claim • i.e. "Laws requiring all restaurants to ban smoking are just/unjust" • dependent in the idea of justice • The definition of “justice” and an understanding of a "just law" in general is necessary to properly label anything as "just or unjust."

7. Criteria justification. • Criteria justification cannot be a matter of taste • We gain a burden of proof for that claim and are obliged to give the audience good reasons for accepting it

8. Criteria justification. • i.e. one might argue that the genius of the American system is its inherent distrust of government • Justice wants to minimize government presence…… • we would reject any efforts to protect people from their own imprudence… • "just laws" in America are necessarily laws which respect that philosophy of government

9. Apply the criteria to matter under consideration. • Shows how the matter under consideration fits the criteria justification given

10. Apply the criteria to matter under consideration. • Laws requiring all restaurants to ban smoking • no one is required to patronize any restaurant • Free market economy - the restaurant owner makes whatever decision will maximize the business goals • The current law arrogates to the government the right to make some of those decisions and thus maximizes government presence

11. PHILOSOPHY • The • CRITIQUE • OF • PRESUPPOSITIONS

12. Schools of ethics • Deontology – Measures the rightness or wrongness of an action • Teleology – Measures the result of an action, not the action itself

13. Utilitarianism • Teleological: goal seeking • Appeals to "generalized benevolence“ • Maxim: Act so as to maximize utility (happiness) for all human beings (all sentient creatures)

14. Criticisms: • Contradictory in being Normative • Excessively conservative • Vague • “utility” • “maximize” • Nonoperable • can’t gain preferences • can’t promote social behavior • justifies immorality

15. Egoism – Ayn Rand • Teleological • To act in the way that best serves ‘you,’ the individual • Criticisms • Allows for immoral action • Does not serve the common good • Does not promote social behavior

16. Categorical imperative – Immanuel Kant • Act only on those principles that you would want tobecome a universal law. • Treat person (whether in yourself or others) always as an end and never as a means only. • Treat all persons as members of the kingdom of ends. • Criticisms – bad results and actions can be justified as necessary through justice

17. The Golden Mean - Aristotle • Deontological • Based on natural law • Identify the extremes of action and determine the ‘middle ground.’

18. Cultural Ethics / Situational Ethics • Relativism is BAD • Very, very very bad!!! • Moral Relativism – stating that there is no such thing as right or wrong and that actions + or – are based on the individual

19. Theory --ladenness I. All knowledge is theory--laden (embedded in other, more general knowledge) so that, in order to sensibly believe (x), it must be the case that we must also believe (y) in which case (y) is the theory of (x). II. In the sense implied in I, "theory" could be defined as "the set of presuppositions informing a particular discourse, and could be illustrated by the following model:

20. world view Philosophyof science First principles perspective (Metatheory) puzzle cases paradigm inquiry application focus disciplinary concerns methodology "theory"

21. Political systems

22. The Veil of Ignorance • Behind the veil of ignorance, a person does not know • class position or social status, • natural talents, abilities, intelligence or strength, and • what his/her plan for a good life is.

23. State of Nature • Hypothetical state before society • All people essentially equal. • “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” • Everyone has unlimited right to do whatever he wishes

24. State of Nature • Society (family) • All are bound to • preserve peace, • preserve mankind, • refrain from hurting the other • Violation puts the violator in state of war with others who have the right to punish him.

25. Law of nature • Rests ultimately on God’s will. • Discovered by reason (not innate) but “writ in the hearts of all mankind” • Binding on all • Presupposes brotherhood of man and human benevolence

26. The Original Position • People imagine themselves without any government and rationally discuss what sort of government could be supported by a social contract and achieve justice.

27. Social Contract • People give up sovereignty to a government or other authority in order to receive or maintain social order through the rule of law • Many theories and writings on the Social contract • Hobbes (1651) • Locke (1689) • Rousseau (1762) • Rawls (1971)

28. Social contract • Addresses inconveniences in state of nature (partiality—tendency to violate other’s rights) • Between equally free persons (tyrant is at war with the others) • Aims to protect lives, freedom, and property of all (law of nature)

29. Social contract cont. • In political society people assign legislative and executive powers of the law of nature to the public • Power transference always subordinate to the “proper and true ends of the commonwealth.” • People retain sovereignty—government is their agent and executor. • People may appeal to heaven (revolt) against tyrant. • Revolt dissolves government—it does not return to state of nature.

30. The Maximin Rule • Under a condition of profound ignorance of consequences, the rational person will want to pick the option offering the least bad alternative. • In constructing a society, a rational person would pick the society that has its least fortunate individuals in the least unfortunate situation.

31. Two Basic Principles of Justice (Rule of Law) • Each person should get an equal guarantee to as many different liberties as can be guaranteed to everyone else at the same time. • Inequalities in society are acceptable only if they are arranged so that the • inequalities actually help out the least fortunate persons in society or; • the inequalities are connected to positions or offices or jobs in society that everyone has an equal opportunity to attain.

32. Hobbes There is no “good” except prudence. (nominalist) We seek our own advantage (are rational) We fear death Fear of death leads us to seek peace We accept the “laws of nature” which are only theorems which any rational man would accept. “Men perform their covenants made.” – keep promises

33. Locke • No innate ideas. (including principles) • Ideas arise from • Experience • reflection • Ideas could be eternal but must be discovered by reason

34. Rousseau • Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will; and in a body we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.

35. The liberties Rawls supports: • Liberty of conscience and freedom of thought • Freedom of the person along with the right to hold (personal) property • Freedom from arbitrary arrest and seizure • Freedom of speech and assembly • Political liberty (the right to vote and to be eligible for public office)

36. Democracy • Shared responsibility for the running and operation of the state • True democracy does not exist

37. Socialism • Social and economic system in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state • Social inequality results

38. Communism • Social and economic system where the means of production and the ultimate control over the individual’s role in society is determined by the state • Class struggles and disparity run rampant • Free will is subjugated to the state

39. Monarchy / Dictatorship • The state is run by a single person • Based upon the will of the monarch / Dictator

40. Commonwealth • Each individual transfers all rights to the sovereign • Brings about “Leviathan” “that mortal God to which we owe under the immortal God, our peace and defense. • Peace is maintained by the fear of death • Perpetual, undivided and absolute

41. Values

42. Maslow’s Heirarchy of needs Self Actualization

43. Values • Aesthetic- The appreciation of beauty for beauty's sake. It is intrinsically valuable.

44. Values • Autonomy- The right to govern oneself or nation without unwanted outside interference.

45. Values • Civil Liberties- The freedoms spelled out in a bill of rights which guarantee the protection of persons, opinions, ideas, and property from arbitrary government interference.

46. Values • Civil Rights- Positive acts of government to protect individual persons from the arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by government or individuals.

47. Values • Civilization: A society that has reached a high measure of development

48. Values • Democracy- The form of government that may be direct or representative. • Representative Democracy- A democratic system of government in which individuals elect leaders to represent their interests. • Direct Democracy- A form of government in which decisions are made directly by the people, not by representatives. • The democratic creed maintains four key elements:

49. Values • Individualism, which allows individuals to achieve the highest potential of government. • Liberty, which allows individuals the greatest amount of freedom consistent with order. • Equality, which declares all people as being equal and have equal rights and opportunities. • Fraternity, which contends that individuals will not misuse their freedom but will cooperate in creating a wholesome sovereignty.

50. Values • Dignity- The condition or feeling of self; the nobleness of a person; the condition of self-worth.