4 Responses to Cordial and Sanguine, Part 30: Armistice Among the Bleeding Hearts

  1. D. F. Linton May 1, 2012 at 4:04 pm #

    Do the BHL crew every define what they mean by “the poor”? The poorest individual or the poorest X%? Those who are voluntarily poor (monks, etc), those unwilling to take whatever work is available, those unable to work, or only the “deserving poor”. It seems a very loose and flexible concept on which to grant oneself the right to enslave and kill one’s fellow man.

    • Roderick May 1, 2012 at 4:39 pm #

      Isn’t the point of BHL that concern for the poor is precisely what gives us (additional) reason not to “enslave and kill one’s fellow man”?

      Also: do we need to specify among different meanings of “poor” if they all have the same upshot?

  2. D. F. Linton May 1, 2012 at 5:43 pm #

    In Smithian terms, isn’t concern for the poor a motivation for beneficence and failure to render aid not a violation of justice, therefore concern for the poor would not justify enslavement or murder. As a motive for charity, definitions can be fuzzy and gray moving each of us more or less. As a justification for rights violations, fuzzy definitions are just another “ends justify the means” rationale.

    • Roderick May 1, 2012 at 5:52 pm #

      I’m not sure how that addresses what I said.

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