more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
If social institutions were to have a first virtue, …prosperity would be a much stronger candidate that justice.
Gist of Idea
Prosperity is a higher social virtue than justice
Source
John Kekes (Against Liberalism [1997], 06.3)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'Against Liberalism' [Cornell 1997], p.128
A Reaction
Kekes occasionally pays lip service to ecological issues, but this shows he is not serious. Endless economic growth will kill our planet, so it should never be our prime virtue. Also the impplication that you can't be too prosperous is plainly false.
23393 | Confucianism assumes that all good developments have happened, and there is only one Way [Norden on Kongzi (Confucius)] |
7257 | All modern social systems seem to be conspiracies of the rich [More,T] |
21988 | In the 1840s Hegel seemed to defend society being right as it is, as a manifestation of Mind [Hegel, by Singer] |
23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
23829 | National leaders want to preserve necessary order - but always the existing order [Weil] |
23107 | Prosperity is a higher social virtue than justice [Kekes] |
22259 | Conservatives are either individualistic, or communal [Sandel] |
7588 | Allegiance is fundamental to the conservative view of society [Scruton] |
8990 | So-called 'liberation' is the enemy of freedom, destroying the very structures that are needed [Scruton] |
20451 | Belief that humans are wicked leads to authoritarian politics [Critchley] |
22838 | Societies need shared values, so conservatism is right if rational discussion of values is impossible [Charvet] |
23126 | Conservatives often want peace, prosperity and tolerance, but not social fairness [Gopnik] |
23132 | Conservatives believe obedience and rank are essential to social order [Gopnik] |