[Campaignforrealdemocracy] Democracy & Full Employment

[Mark Wehrly]

One small, but important quibble, Anne et al. I'm new to this list, but perhaps can help. Although it is true the broad terms 'social contract' and 'social responsibility' encompass the field, I think they may be misleading for your purposes. The idea of civic participation and virtue, coming out of the communitarian movement and the work of Alasdair MacIntyre et al. was a rebellion against the individualism that took hold from the enlightenment. Instead they wished to return to the aristotelian idea that human life had a proper end or character,
and that human beings could not reach this natural end without
preparation. By this view, programme should be about invoking the people's responsibility owed to the commonwealth or vice versa, but appealing to individuals' (and society's) self development and their virtue, and the value to the commonwealth of their participation for its own sake, quite apart from any material or policy outcome. I think that is Sen's point also. By that view, any programme around public benefits ought to have that as an explicit motive. Mark Wehrly


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