Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site denelcor.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!hao!denelcor!neal From: neal@denelcor.UUCP (Neal Weidenhofer) Newsgroups: net.philosophy Subject: Re: Were not drifting; were being tugged Message-ID: <532@denelcor.UUCP> Date: Sun, 19-Aug-84 21:41:36 EDT Article-I.D.: denelcor.532 Posted: Sun Aug 19 21:41:36 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 22-Aug-84 00:59:57 EDT References: <39@ism780b.UUCP> Organization: Denelcor, Aurora, CO Lines: 58 ************************************************************************** >Well, of course Laura *did* speak of ice cream scoopers improving themselves >and becoming computer programmers.... That seems to me to be a question to be decided by the individual who's faced with the choice. If an ice cream scooper thought he could have a better life as a computer programmer, then he might want to do something about it. If not, not. No Libertarian of my acquaintance would object either way. > ... And I consider the fallback to the notion >of supply and demand given that we were discussing human worth to indicate the >sort of fundamental philosophical blindness that must be overcome before we >can intelligently discuss political or social philosophy. Run out of rational (sounding) arguments? Ta-ta-da-ta-da Ad Hominem to the rescue. >I tend to think better of artists and poets and their contributions to >society than I do of corporate executives. I would like to live in a >society where the former were relatively more rewarded than in our society. >I would like to live in a society in which caring about the old and disabled >was more honorable and desirable than increasing the yearly profit of your >employer. And I would like to live in a society in which you were free to reward either group as you saw fit WITH YOUR RESOURCES; and I were free to do likewise with mine. >Of course I can't insist that you not be a selfish asshole, I can only >dislike you for it, as I said. What do you mean you "can't insist"? This whole discussion is about money and other resources taken from me at gunpoint (i.e., by the government). If you have a stronger notion of insistence than that, I'd like to hear about it. >I never insisted that anyone give up what they truly earned. >But I do insist that most people who think they truly earned what they >have are stupid and blind, because they think in absolute and not >relative terms. There are people who have worked much harder than you >but have much less, and there are people who have not worked as hard >as you but have far more. Who are you to judge what I have "truly earned"? I totally reject the Marxist philosophy that the amount of labor that goes into a product determines its worth. I hold that the worth or value of a product is whatever someone else is willing to give up to get it -- the "free-market" value. >-- Jim Balter (ima!jim) Regards, Neal Weidenhofer "Nothin' ain't worth nothin' Denelcor, Inc. but it's free"!denelcor!neal