On 'pies' and 'spaces' (They’re connected) #MoralMaze
@AdamWagner1 argues that ‘rights are not like pies’. To spell things out, boringly, his point is that rights are not a zero-sum game, that it is possible to increase one right or set of rights without reducing ...
1/
@AdamWagner1 argues that ‘rights are not like pies’. To spell things out, boringly, his point is that rights are not a zero-sum game, that it is possible to increase one right or set of rights without reducing ...
1/
another right or set of rights.
I think that he is correct, about some rights, and his example of equal marriage is a pretty good example.
But I think he is wrong about other rights, and especially about the rights in question.
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I think that he is correct, about some rights, and his example of equal marriage is a pretty good example.
But I think he is wrong about other rights, and especially about the rights in question.
2/
Consider the pie metaphor. It’s supposed to be powerful because it conveys the idea that we are talking about big, abstract, social rules, roles and institutions, not something as simple as a pie.
As simple, material and *spatially constrained* as a chunk of pie. 3/
As simple, material and *spatially constrained* as a chunk of pie. 3/
So @AdamWagner1's prescription might be "don’t think with spatially constrained analogues when thinking about big abstract social rights and roles" etc. /4
But think about the terms of this debate. Quite often people talk about ‘women’s *spaces*, single sex *spaces* and so on. Sometimes this talk is metaphorical. There’s a growing tendency, a bit pomo, tbh, to talk in this way, people talk about eg. ‘the space to debate’ /5
But quite often the space talk is *not* metaphorical at all. It’s about rooms, wards, blocks, (in hospitals and prisons, for example). These rooms, these spaces, are limited. You can measure them. They are not abstract social roles /6
One space that I think about a lot, is *exactly* 400 metres long, and *exactly* 1.22m wide. It’s the lane of a running track and there are generally only - 8 of them at any one track. /7
Lanes are like pies, in certain morally relevant respects. If a lane is taken up by one person, no-one else gets it.
So @AdamWagner1's analogy is wrong. He mischaracterises the relevant rights.
Lots of the relevant spaces really are spaces.
And spaces are like pies. /e
So @AdamWagner1's analogy is wrong. He mischaracterises the relevant rights.
Lots of the relevant spaces really are spaces.
And spaces are like pies. /e
[Addendum and note to self. In other respects athletics tracks and pies do not mix and should be kept as far apart as possible]
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