Pick of the New York Times

[Dame St MarkhamHarshly]

Wall St - St Pauls - Dame St...


What next for the (now international) Occupy movements?

Rawls on Wall Street

What today’s protesters can learn from one of our most revered political philosophers.

By STEVEN V. MAZIE

Whether it fizzles with the first snowfall or develops into a true counterweight to the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street will go down as the first protest movement in recent memory to shine a critical light on the staggering levels of economic inequality in the United States.


But to move forward and make a difference, Occupy Wall Street needs specific goals backed by a more coherent, more inspiring vision for American democracy.


Rawlsian principles might help clarify the values of the movement and navigate it away from divisive or intellectually bankrupt rhetoric....

[LMH]

A list of links from The Stone philosophy blog including:

this TED talk by Paul Zak about the source of our moral sense. The moral molecule - only found in mammals - oxytocin.

To summarise poorly: women are nicer than men ~ 100% FACT!

[Pink Betty]

WISE WORDS OF THE WEEK

Nov 4, 2011 10:04:48 GMT @LMH said:

To summarise poorly: women are nicer than men ~ 100% FACT!

[alanseago]

You are entitled to your predilections!

[aubrey]

In 1976, four people living in an apartment behind a mental hospital in Prestwich, England, formed a group called the Fall. The band is about to release its twenty-ninth album, titled “Ersatz G.B.” Stephen Malkmus, of Pavement, once called the Fall’s only permanent member, Mark E. Smith, his Wallace Stevens. In 1988, Sonic Youth recorded three reverent covers of Fall songs for the BBC. As Ben Ratliff noted in the Times, Smith’s opinion of Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth’s lead singer, is that he should have his “rock license” revoked, and he has had nothing kinder to say about Malkmus. If you’re alive, chances are that Smith has a grudge against you. He apparently imagines that the Fall is the only band that matters, and it’s a view that bears examination.... (cont)