This paper was originally presented at the Ninth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studi... more This paper was originally presented at the Ninth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University, June 2011.
As a conservative John Gray deplores the impact of the New Right ideology adopted by the British ... more As a conservative John Gray deplores the impact of the New Right ideology adopted by the British Conservative Party on the ongoing culture of British society. While not sharing his belief that political action can only aspire to warding off evils, this paper explores the corrosive impact of New Right ideology on the ethos of the university sector in Australia. In essence, New Right ideology would have universities ape business manners, charging customers for its services and discarding university forms of employee self-management based on academic freedom and collegiate governance, so as to cut the cost of university expansion to a minimum and maximise its industry pay-offs. This paper argues that corporatized and market oriented universities will be unable to sustain access to all on the basis of ability, or sustain self-directed research and teaching, which are essential for a vibrant and creative university.
Arstotle clams that the most perfect happness s a lfe of contemplaton, whch s a lfe as close to t... more Arstotle clams that the most perfect happness s a lfe of contemplaton, whch s a lfe as close to the supremely happy lves of the Gods as s possble n human lfe. Ths lfe s more perfectly happy because contemplaton, n takng tself as ts own object, cannot so easly be deprved of what s necessary for t and thus remans less subject to msfortune. I shall argue that, whle there are many affintes between Marx's concepton of the hghest good and ths concepton from Arstotle, Marx dffers crucally by takng the hghest good to be human rather than godlke. For Marx, the counterpart of beng removed from the vcsstudes of fortune s the reducton to a mnmum of what he terms the sphere of necessty. The hghest good s not a lfe of contemplaton but rather the pursut of ends that human bengs ndvdually and collectvely choose for themselves ndependently of the demands of survval and reproducton.
Aristotle distinguishes between general justice and particular justice. I argue that this distinc... more Aristotle distinguishes between general justice and particular justice. I argue that this distinction identifi es a fundamental issue of justice that remains even in what Rawls terms a "well-ordered society". Th is is the issue of the fair distribution of the burdens and benefi ts of social cooperation. Rawls develops Aristotle's conception of particular justice through arguing that the proper subject of justice as fairness is the "basic structure" of society. Further, his distinction between "ideal" and "non-ideal" theory clarifi es Aristotle's otherwise confusing distinction within "particular" justice between distributive and corrective, or regulative, justice.
This paper points out that neo-classical economic theory employs Galilean abstraction ... more This paper points out that neo-classical economic theory employs Galilean abstraction regardless of whether we understand this in realist or anti-realist terms as much as Physics does. This establishes that the laws of Economics 'lie' in the way Cartwright claims that ...
Rawls's theory of Justice has been criticised both for being too egalitarian and not egalitarian ... more Rawls's theory of Justice has been criticised both for being too egalitarian and not egalitarian enough. I first consider Cohen's claim that Rawls's theory is more egalitarian than many think, since it precludes high incomes for the skilled. However, in rejecting his further claim that the site of distributive justice cannot then be the 'basic structure' of society, I provide an interpretation of Rawls's theory as building on Aristotle's concept of 'particular justice'. Thus interpreted, Rawls's principles allow significant inequalities required by productive competition, whose extent is ultimately an empirical question. However, inequalities within a just basic structure cannot be so extreme that they undermine political equality and fair equality of opportunity, and thus profoundly affect individuals from birth. Given these limits to inequalities, Rawls's claim that the subject of justice is the basic structure does not arbitrarily restrict the concerns of political justice, as Cohen suggests it does.
This paper was originally presented at the Ninth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studi... more This paper was originally presented at the Ninth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University, June 2011.
As a conservative John Gray deplores the impact of the New Right ideology adopted by the British ... more As a conservative John Gray deplores the impact of the New Right ideology adopted by the British Conservative Party on the ongoing culture of British society. While not sharing his belief that political action can only aspire to warding off evils, this paper explores the corrosive impact of New Right ideology on the ethos of the university sector in Australia. In essence, New Right ideology would have universities ape business manners, charging customers for its services and discarding university forms of employee self-management based on academic freedom and collegiate governance, so as to cut the cost of university expansion to a minimum and maximise its industry pay-offs. This paper argues that corporatized and market oriented universities will be unable to sustain access to all on the basis of ability, or sustain self-directed research and teaching, which are essential for a vibrant and creative university.
Arstotle clams that the most perfect happness s a lfe of contemplaton, whch s a lfe as close to t... more Arstotle clams that the most perfect happness s a lfe of contemplaton, whch s a lfe as close to the supremely happy lves of the Gods as s possble n human lfe. Ths lfe s more perfectly happy because contemplaton, n takng tself as ts own object, cannot so easly be deprved of what s necessary for t and thus remans less subject to msfortune. I shall argue that, whle there are many affintes between Marx's concepton of the hghest good and ths concepton from Arstotle, Marx dffers crucally by takng the hghest good to be human rather than godlke. For Marx, the counterpart of beng removed from the vcsstudes of fortune s the reducton to a mnmum of what he terms the sphere of necessty. The hghest good s not a lfe of contemplaton but rather the pursut of ends that human bengs ndvdually and collectvely choose for themselves ndependently of the demands of survval and reproducton.
Aristotle distinguishes between general justice and particular justice. I argue that this distinc... more Aristotle distinguishes between general justice and particular justice. I argue that this distinction identifi es a fundamental issue of justice that remains even in what Rawls terms a "well-ordered society". Th is is the issue of the fair distribution of the burdens and benefi ts of social cooperation. Rawls develops Aristotle's conception of particular justice through arguing that the proper subject of justice as fairness is the "basic structure" of society. Further, his distinction between "ideal" and "non-ideal" theory clarifi es Aristotle's otherwise confusing distinction within "particular" justice between distributive and corrective, or regulative, justice.
This paper points out that neo-classical economic theory employs Galilean abstraction ... more This paper points out that neo-classical economic theory employs Galilean abstraction regardless of whether we understand this in realist or anti-realist terms as much as Physics does. This establishes that the laws of Economics 'lie' in the way Cartwright claims that ...
Rawls's theory of Justice has been criticised both for being too egalitarian and not egalitarian ... more Rawls's theory of Justice has been criticised both for being too egalitarian and not egalitarian enough. I first consider Cohen's claim that Rawls's theory is more egalitarian than many think, since it precludes high incomes for the skilled. However, in rejecting his further claim that the site of distributive justice cannot then be the 'basic structure' of society, I provide an interpretation of Rawls's theory as building on Aristotle's concept of 'particular justice'. Thus interpreted, Rawls's principles allow significant inequalities required by productive competition, whose extent is ultimately an empirical question. However, inequalities within a just basic structure cannot be so extreme that they undermine political equality and fair equality of opportunity, and thus profoundly affect individuals from birth. Given these limits to inequalities, Rawls's claim that the subject of justice is the basic structure does not arbitrarily restrict the concerns of political justice, as Cohen suggests it does.
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