Is moralizing or “rights talk” a productive way to discuss political issues?

As summer comes to an end in the not-so-distant future, it’s time to get back in gear. Our next Meetup will be Thursday, September 18, and we’ll examine the role of “rights talk” in our political discussions. As in: “People have a right to X, so society has a moral obligation to provide them with X.”

We’ll look at how this approach to political discourse has worked out in practice and consider whether it is a productive way to engage with others in political discussions. Is there a role for “rights talk” in some circumstances, but maybe times when that approach does not work as well and may be counterproductive?

Some of the books we’ll discuss include:

Mary Ann Glendon, Rights Talk: The Impoverishment Of Political Discourse

Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach, The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

Tom Nichols, Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy

You don’t need to read these books, but please do take a look at this TEDx talk before the Meetup:

TEDx - The Illusion of Understanding: Phil Fernbach at TEDxGoldenGatePark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SlbsnaSNNM

Also, please read these three articles:

Maria Popova, "Joan Didion on Learning Not to Mistake Self-Righteousness for Morality”

https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/12/05/joan-didion-on-morality/

Jonathan Haidt, “Monomania Is Illiberal and Stupefying”

https://www.persuasion.community/p/haidt-monomania-is-illiberal-and

Gabrielle M. Girgis, “Rights Talk in a Post-Liberal Age: Mary Ann Glendon's Enduring Insight Into the American Rights Tradition”

https://fedsoc.org/fedsoc-review/rights-talk-in-a-post-liberal-age-mary-ann-glendon-s-enduring-insight-into-the-american-rights-tradition

Hope to see you soon.

Bill