Let’s call it what it is, OK? IMO there are two related matters here: 1) What is the size of the groups you’re willing to empathize with? and how much relative concern you feel obliged to show for each—your family? neighbours? ethnicity? social class? compatriots? culture? religion? species? 2) What’s your attitude towards social alienation and various unsavoury processes that accompany it? Is it just an inevitable side of humanity, to be ignored if possible? Only to be ignored if you’re sure it’s not about to explode? A moderately tragic natural disaster? A concrete ethical evil, akin to not helping victims in an accident? A disease of the nation-organism, which ultimately concerns all its other parts? A profane/sinful Awful Thing that’s an affront to your preferred Grand Design? I don’t have a clear answer for myself, neither logically nor emotionally.
(Great. You try to break shit down into more manageable bits—aligned with LW’s mission, it is! - and there’s an instant downvote.)
What is the size of the groups you’re willing to empathize with?
I think this question is a bit misleading, as if size is the only important (or most important) information about any group.
Let’s ask instead: “What groups you are willing to cooperate with?” (Because the empathy should lead to cooperation, right?) Now the question is: Is the given group able and willing to cooperate with me? The answer does not depend directly on the size—I can imagine an enlightened galactical society where everyone cares about the well-being of others; and I can also imagine a small group of people harming their neighbors to achieve short-term gains. It is not about the size of the group; it is about what those people do, what they think like.
What’s your attitude towards social alienation and various unsavoury processes that accompany it?
I’d rather not have it, but merely pretending that it does not exist is not enough. In a long term, if I am able to help people in bad situations, I will try. In a short term, I care about my survival, and survival of my children.
Is it just an inevitable side of humanity, to be ignored if possible?
I don’t know. World changes; what was impossible yesterday, may be possible today; but sometimes what was possible yesterday is no longer possible today. Instead of asking whether it is inevitable or not, we should discuss specific strategies, their costs and probabilities of success. There is a difference between asking whether “there is a solution” or whether “a specific strategy X is a solution”. (In this specific case, X being: “living and raising your children among people of lower classes”.)
Perhaps this deserves a specific top-level thread in “Open Thread”. But we should start by trying to define what “social alienation” approximately is (maybe it is an unnatural category consisting of several different cases); then discuss relevant factors; and only then start suggesting solutions.
But we should start by trying to define what “social alienation” approximately is (maybe it is an unnatural category consisting of several different cases); then discuss relevant factors; and only then start suggesting solutions.
...[the] inequality generated by Capitalism is morally wrong, because it fragments society and prevents us from relating to one another. Can the tycoon in his luxurious penthouse relate to the pensioner shivering in her flat, or the unemployed man waiting for the bus in the rain?
Giving one example—a hugely mindkilling one—is not the same as providing a definition. It can help me understand your feelings about “social alienation”, but I still don’t know what exactly it means—where are the boundaries of this concept.
Is “social alienation” any kind of situation when one group of people has problems imagining themselves as members of another group? Or is it necessary to have some asymetry, where almost everyone agrees that it is better to belong to group A than to group B? Is there a difference whether belonging to group A or B is caused by family one was born in, or by one’s abilities, or by one’s decisions?
A too wide definition could lead to: “Any difference in anything (including opinions, hobbies, values) is morally wrong.”
For more specific definitions we could perhaps discuss the possible paradox of morally acceptable differences causing morally wrong differences later, and how could that paradox be solved.
And then, later, we could discuss speficic strategies that could be used to solve specific problems.
I’m willing, even eager, to empathize with every human being. But that includes Singaporeans, and Republican squares raising their kids in the suburbs. You seem to have a blind spot or worse when it comes to those folks.
I can’t think of a definition of “social alienation” where I would like to see more of it. But I don’t know what you’re asking me to sign on for when you ask me to help you thwart it. I don’t like the sound of it.
Let’s call it what it is, OK? IMO there are two related matters here:
1) What is the size of the groups you’re willing to empathize with? and how much relative concern you feel obliged to show for each—your family? neighbours? ethnicity? social class? compatriots? culture? religion? species?
2) What’s your attitude towards social alienation and various unsavoury processes that accompany it? Is it just an inevitable side of humanity, to be ignored if possible? Only to be ignored if you’re sure it’s not about to explode? A moderately tragic natural disaster? A concrete ethical evil, akin to not helping victims in an accident? A disease of the nation-organism, which ultimately concerns all its other parts? A profane/sinful Awful Thing that’s an affront to your preferred Grand Design?
I don’t have a clear answer for myself, neither logically nor emotionally.
(Great. You try to break shit down into more manageable bits—aligned with LW’s mission, it is! - and there’s an instant downvote.)
The parent does not seem to be a response to the grandparent.
I think this question is a bit misleading, as if size is the only important (or most important) information about any group.
Let’s ask instead: “What groups you are willing to cooperate with?” (Because the empathy should lead to cooperation, right?) Now the question is: Is the given group able and willing to cooperate with me? The answer does not depend directly on the size—I can imagine an enlightened galactical society where everyone cares about the well-being of others; and I can also imagine a small group of people harming their neighbors to achieve short-term gains. It is not about the size of the group; it is about what those people do, what they think like.
I’d rather not have it, but merely pretending that it does not exist is not enough. In a long term, if I am able to help people in bad situations, I will try. In a short term, I care about my survival, and survival of my children.
I don’t know. World changes; what was impossible yesterday, may be possible today; but sometimes what was possible yesterday is no longer possible today. Instead of asking whether it is inevitable or not, we should discuss specific strategies, their costs and probabilities of success. There is a difference between asking whether “there is a solution” or whether “a specific strategy X is a solution”. (In this specific case, X being: “living and raising your children among people of lower classes”.)
Perhaps this deserves a specific top-level thread in “Open Thread”. But we should start by trying to define what “social alienation” approximately is (maybe it is an unnatural category consisting of several different cases); then discuss relevant factors; and only then start suggesting solutions.
Here’s a nice post to begin with, written by a local libertarian, Larks, in response to Eliezer’s “Traditional Capitalist Values”.
Giving one example—a hugely mindkilling one—is not the same as providing a definition. It can help me understand your feelings about “social alienation”, but I still don’t know what exactly it means—where are the boundaries of this concept.
Is “social alienation” any kind of situation when one group of people has problems imagining themselves as members of another group? Or is it necessary to have some asymetry, where almost everyone agrees that it is better to belong to group A than to group B? Is there a difference whether belonging to group A or B is caused by family one was born in, or by one’s abilities, or by one’s decisions?
A too wide definition could lead to: “Any difference in anything (including opinions, hobbies, values) is morally wrong.”
For more specific definitions we could perhaps discuss the possible paradox of morally acceptable differences causing morally wrong differences later, and how could that paradox be solved.
And then, later, we could discuss speficic strategies that could be used to solve specific problems.
Are you asking me?
I’m willing, even eager, to empathize with every human being. But that includes Singaporeans, and Republican squares raising their kids in the suburbs. You seem to have a blind spot or worse when it comes to those folks.
I can’t think of a definition of “social alienation” where I would like to see more of it. But I don’t know what you’re asking me to sign on for when you ask me to help you thwart it. I don’t like the sound of it.