Philosophical Reflections on Humanity

Communitarianism holds that human identities are shaped by constitutive communities and that this idea should inform our understanding of human nature, moral/political institutions, and policies that guide them. It emphasizes the importance of nourishing communities and argues for the centrality of community in human affairs.

Communitarians such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor, and Michael Walzer dispute Rawls's view by drawing on Aristotle and Hegel. They argue for the centrality of community, seek to go beyond mechanical individuated regulation of human affairs, and oppose the disinterested account of human nature.

Communitarians have a collectivist understanding of social and political interests and argue for the centrality of community in shaping human identities and guiding moral/political institutions.

<p>Communitarians target liberalism's universalist pretensions and argue that standards of justice will be found in the particulars of different societies, hence will vary from one society to the next. They emphasize the importance of values and traditions specific to each society.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Walzer argues that thinking of a universal set of standards will be so abstract that it will be of little use to people in particular contexts. He emphasizes the importance of considering the specific values and circumstances of each society when adjudicating social structures.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Rawls attempts to concede to the criticism by claiming that his argument is best for liberal cultures and applicable to those willing to work out a political consensus. He also concedes that liberalism may not be suitable for all times and all societies.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Some of the communitarians mentioned in the text are Alasdair MacIntyre, Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor, and Michael Walzer. They are known for their critiques of liberalism and their emphasis on the importance of community in shaping human identities and guiding moral/political institutions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The main distinction lies in the emphasis on community and collective interests by communitarians, as opposed to the individualistic and universalist approach of liberals. Communitarians argue for the centrality of community in shaping human identities and guiding moral/political institutions, while liberals prioritize individual liberties and universal standards of justice.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>1980s</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The fall of the USSR</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Due to various factors</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Emphasis on values of family and community</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>No, it does not appear that Asian values have been a challenge to liberal democracy</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Imagining how those rights can be made real in societies with different frameworks such as Confucian traditions</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Cross-cultural dialogue where interlocutors don’t argue for universal validity but possible errors of their views, emphasizing the need for more cross-cultural dialogue than insistence on universality of human rights doctrine</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Communitarians accusing liberals of advancing an idea of the self that is atomistic, with Taylor’s criticism applying more to Nozick than Rawls</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Accurately represents liberal practice as of atomistic individuals, and it misrepresents real life by not acknowledging the communitarian nature of liberal individuals</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Not to replace liberalism but to point out the communitarian nature of liberal individuals</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The politics of consensus, advocating for realist perspectivism, which prefers conversion of beliefs instead of conformism</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Dialogical, with neither being prior to the other</p> Signup and view all the answers

<ol> <li>Hume: pp 55 – 56 2. Kant: p. 56 3. GWF Hegel: p. 56</li> </ol> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Wrong way to protect philosophy is to ignore interrogating all its facets just because unpleasant topics like colonialism, racism, and ethnocentrism will crop up. Race, class, and gender issues should not be ignored.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Du Bois concluded that there was nothing scientifically significant about race to imply differences.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>No, racism will always exist whether there is belief in the existence of races or not. Truth-telling about the non-existence of races is in the service of justice.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The three types are Racialism, Extrinsic Racism, and Intrinsic Racism.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Racialism belief involves the belief that there are characteristics that distinguish races, central to 19th-century attempts of developing different races.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The false doctrine is Racialism, as it depends on other doctrines that have been called ‘racism’.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Extrinsic Racism makes moral distinctions based on the belief that distinctions are morally significant, and evidence to the contrary does not change such racists.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Intrinsic Racism believes that each race has a different moral status, and no evidence to the contrary changes the racist.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Barker believes that Appiah's position does not take seriously the hurtful incidents of racism.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Barker gets the gradient of what is at stake wrong in relation to racism, according to Appiah.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Appiah's stance is that racism will always exist whether there is belief in the existence of races or not, and truth-telling about the non-existence of races is in the service of justice.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Ubuntu is a philosophy and culture emphasizing the quality of a person within a community.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>African communitarianism prioritizes community over the individual.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Consensus or conformity, emphasizing the common good.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Ramose and Wiredu.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Habermas' process of rational acceptance.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Louw's.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Empathy and recognition of fallibility in judgment.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>As unity in diversity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Race and identity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Ongoing postcolonial struggles seeking to affirm African identity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The failures of race and identity struggles, leading to his cosmopolitanism.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Descartes' emphasis on the nature of man's capacity to think.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>'I think, I am'</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Descartes' thesis</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Metaphysics, morality, religion, and anthropology</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>To understand himself as a being endowed with reason</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>To explain the nature of man and be in continuity with Critique of Pure Reason</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Bringing into unity the various representations which at the same time is the unity of consciousness</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>All sciences in the science of human nature and is dependent on it</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The renaissance and enlightenment periods</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>To understand the varieties of races and establish essential human qualities</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>From barbarian-Latin and Christian-gentile to Civilized-Savage; Historical-Primitive and Progressive-Archaic</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The reality of the world and human life</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The lack of distinction between anthropology and philosophy</p> Signup and view all the answers