Hiking the Range

Abstract

This chapter introduces the book, which deals with philosophical ethics. It is filled with challenging and provocative discussions on a wide range of philosophical positions and problems. All of these discussions are at least loosely presented as being in the service of the search for the supreme principle of morality. This chapter comments on the suggestion that there is a single true morality, a suggestion that has both a metaethical and a normative aspect. It argues that there are tensions in our common moral thought at least some of which are reflected in the differences among Kantian, contractualist, and consequentialist perspectives. One such tension, which is frequently associated with the difference between Kantian and consequentialist ethics, is that between respect for autonomy and concern for optimific results. The chapter considers how this tension disappears when the author of this book transforms Immanuel Kant's theory. It also examines the tensions between contractualist and noncontractualist theories, as well as the importance (or unimportance) of finding a supreme principle of morality.

The Language of Pushkin, the Language of Putin: Teaching Russian in the United States

“…This absence is framed as an erasure … a violent removal that significantly misrepresents the actual diversity of speakers of Russian and restricts putative ownership of the Russian language… not only is this inaccurate portrayal pedagogically problematic; it is also politically so, as it coincides with a rising tide of ethnic Russian nationalism in the Russian Federation" (2012)  Related to the need to address the diversity present in the Russian-speaking world is the need to challenge the concept of the Русский мир (the "Russian World"). 6 As Fiona Hill has noted, "this idea of a Russian World means re-gathering all the Russian-speakers in different places that belonged at some point to the Russian tsardom" (quoted in Wolf, 2022). In many ways, the invasion and ongoing war in the Ukraine is an outgrowth of just such views -for Putin, "Ukrainians and Russians are one and the same" (Hill, quoted in Wolf, 2022).…”

Untitled

“…Borrowing from Susan Wolf's deliberations on the Kantian Contractionalist Formula of Derek Parfit, it may well be that, in the dialogue, an individual may not be able to follow their preferred principle, but will recognise that another principle, agreed to by all, might not be rationally unreasonable in the context at hand. In Wolf's words, during the dialogue, 'the recognition that everyone rationally could accept a principle may count as a reason for someone to accept the principle' [13]. That is, it may be possible for participants to accept a position which it is not reasonable for them to reject, and so reach consensus.…”

Global skills

“…Hence, employers also value work experience, because "a genuine workplace teaches both general and specific work-skills more effectively than any education-based simulation can." 53 This points toward the need for a much-improved system of vocational education and training than presently exists in both America and England.…”