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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Hate Speech As Theater, Adam White
Hate Speech As Theater, Adam White
Adam White
More public and philosophical attention has recently been given to hate speech. Hate speech does not merely hurt feelings; it is public communication that implies that the targeted group does not merit the constitutional protections assured the speaker. Hate speech poses a riddle given the liberal commitment to freedom of speech independent of content.
This paper argues that philosophers misdiagnose hate speech. The novel claim is that hate speech is a tactic in a game being played by the speakers. The game’s prize is the same kind of personal buzz felt by effective theater actors. Winning requires manipulating the audience’s …
The Difference Principle: Rawls’S Two Oversights, Adam White
The Difference Principle: Rawls’S Two Oversights, Adam White
Adam White
John Rawls’s Difference Principle demands that basic social institutions be ordered such that the prospects of the worst off office are maximized, even if it constrains the prospects of all the better off offices. This is a conservative demand, at odds with an obligation to maximize total welfare. Rawls defends against this concern by arguing that as cooperative schemes evolve the worst off office should not make concessions before the better off offices do. Or, this is my reading of Rawls’s schematic illustrations of the difference principle.
The aim of this paper is to point out two important oversights in …
Crime Futures Market, Adam White
Crime Futures Market, Adam White
Adam White
Responding to the legally guilty is typically presented as a choice between incarceration and rehabilitation. This paper suggests a third option: preemptive rehabilitation. The argument presents an innovative institutional approach and a unique moral justification. The vision is a crime futures market that transfers the risk of potential crime away from undeserving victims and into the portfolios of willing investors. Instead of taxpayers paying exclusively for prisons, the proposal would allow young adults to sign contracts to not get involved in crime, but pay the award only upon their future success. Because the contracts represent a future payment they are …
Term Accountability, Adam White
Term Accountability, Adam White
Adam White
Democratic constitutions allow citizens to hold officeholders accountable via election. Legislative elections are typically held either by the calendar or at the legislature’s own discretion, i.e., “no confidence”. But both are inferior to a third option: having citizens decide when the next election will be. This procedure, “Term Accountability”, optimally aligns policymaker motivations with citizen interests. Ideally, pathological legislatures would serve short terms while productive legislatures would serve long terms.
Our generation is familiar with contesting and perfecting constitutional practices as they pertain to citizen rights. But there is an apparent intellectual bias against institutional revision. This supports a presumption …
Corruption Cop, Adam White
Corruption Cop, Adam White
Adam White
Corruption is a primary descriptor of politics, and of course corruption is bad on its merits. But what is wrong about the practice it is the lack of an adequate response. Assume then that corruption persists, not primarily because of bad moral character on the part of officers, but because of poor constitutional design.
It is curious however that contemporary constitutional theory resists innovation. This paper takes up the challenge by proposing a new, fourth constitutional branch and office: a “corruption cop”. A corruption cop possesses the exclusive authority to remove corrupt officers from public office.
The authority to remove …