Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Communitarianism

Dr. Russell Arben Fox writes on Communitarianism. Like djw at Lawyers, Guns and Money, I'm not sure precisely what I think about Fox's work here. I'm very strongly anti-authoritarian; I'm usually disturbed by the implicit or overt authoritarianism in much communitarian philosophy.

One issue that deserves investigation is the propensity of individuals to form freely chosen communities using Internet technology; it is already a trope that the "web 2.0" is all about social networking. Rather than imposing community, a strong thread running through existing communitarian philosophy, perhaps a better perspective would be to investigate how members and (sigh) leaders of these freely chosen communities can operate them most efficiently and effectively.

Also, I don't see that Fox has given due blame (credit?) to the effects that technology and economics have had on social and political fragmentation. I strongly suspect a case could be made that political and moral philosophy is a reaction to the fragmenting effects of technology and economics, and is not at all driving the process.

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