Other: I think it’s a false dichotomy. I think that an ideal system of government will probably sometimes have to sacrifice libertarian principles in favor of egalitarian ones, and sometimes have to sacrifice egalitarian principles in favor of libertarian ones.
I believe Richard’s point is that e.g. egalitarianism is in fact a system for making these sorts of choices (are people more equal? Yes? Do that!).
And of course the principles that you use define your “actual” system, which is neither egalitarian nor libertarian (which would be “are people more free? Yes? Do that!”)
You’re right. My comment was silly and aggressive. (Of course it did not seem that way when I wrote it.) I seem to have a blind spot when I think I see moral realism.
My real answer is “somewhere in between,” but I think that pretty much describes everyone. I ended up answering in terms of current political structures and what direction I think they should move in.
Other: Do the right thing. Consequentialism and all that.
Would gladly bow completely to an FAI, but value freedom. Would accept some people doing better than others, but it would suck if the have-nots can’t do anything about it.
Politics: libertarianism or egalitarianism?
[pollid:87]
Other: utilitarianism
Other utilitarianism: symmetrized_Manfred_utilitarianism :P
Other: I think it’s a false dichotomy. I think that an ideal system of government will probably sometimes have to sacrifice libertarian principles in favor of egalitarian ones, and sometimes have to sacrifice egalitarian principles in favor of libertarian ones.
What principles will it use in making such choices?
How happy, safe, productive, etc. people are. I don’t see either libertarianism or egalitarianism as terminal values.
I believe Richard’s point is that e.g. egalitarianism is in fact a system for making these sorts of choices (are people more equal? Yes? Do that!).
And of course the principles that you use define your “actual” system, which is neither egalitarian nor libertarian (which would be “are people more free? Yes? Do that!”)
Ideal by what metric? Unless you’re a moral realist, there probably isn’t such a thing.
Ideal in terms of fulfilling my terminal values, which contain a term for the satisfaction of others.
You’re right. My comment was silly and aggressive. (Of course it did not seem that way when I wrote it.) I seem to have a blind spot when I think I see moral realism.
My apologies.
My real answer is “somewhere in between,” but I think that pretty much describes everyone. I ended up answering in terms of current political structures and what direction I think they should move in.
What if I simply don’t know?
I voted ‘other’ and downvoted the question. Lordy, what the heck are you doin’ bringing this in here? D:
Other: solve scarcity, let everyone have infinite everything.
If libertarian vs. egalitarian is the main axis along which members of a group differ politically, it’s a very unusual group.
What are we really trying to find out about the group? Possibilities that come to mind include:
The philosophical viewpoints that underlie our political views
Our political preferences along various axes, such as interventionist vs. non-interventionist economic, social and foreign policy
Party preferences
That’s the American sense of “libertarianism”, right? I take this question to be about the horizontal axis of The Political Compass.
For what it’s worth, I interpreted it as liberalism versus socialism.
That’s the European sense of “liberalism”, right?
Affirmative.
Other: Do the right thing. Consequentialism and all that.
Would gladly bow completely to an FAI, but value freedom. Would accept some people doing better than others, but it would suck if the have-nots can’t do anything about it.
What a simplistic dichotomy...