Comments on: how not to think about cutting in line: a crash course in normative ethics http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/08/06/how-not-to-think-about-cutting-in-line/ ethics, education, et cetera Thu, 09 Sep 2010 22:19:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: kant on queueing, or why I am not a kantian « this field is required http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/08/06/how-not-to-think-about-cutting-in-line/comment-page-1/#comment-23 kant on queueing, or why I am not a kantian « this field is required Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:51:03 +0000 http://thisfieldisrequired.com/?p=71#comment-23 [...] 18, 2009 In response to my post on how not to think about cutting in line, Jacob Levy makes these important points: I’m puzzled. This seems like the easiest of cases for a [...] […] 18, 2009 In response to my post on how not to think about cutting in line, Jacob Levy makes these important points: I’m puzzled. This seems like the easiest of cases for a […]

]]> By: thisfieldisrequired http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/08/06/how-not-to-think-about-cutting-in-line/comment-page-1/#comment-22 thisfieldisrequired Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:37:34 +0000 http://thisfieldisrequired.com/?p=71#comment-22 Thanks so much for the excellent comment, Jacob. I could have said alot more about Kantianism but it would have been too much for the original post. Since you're pressing, I have decided that this issue is new-post-worthy and will try to write on it tomorrow. Thanks so much for the excellent comment, Jacob. I could have said alot more about Kantianism but it would have been too much for the original post. Since you’re pressing, I have decided that this issue is new-post-worthy and will try to write on it tomorrow.

]]> By: Jacob T. Levy http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/08/06/how-not-to-think-about-cutting-in-line/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Jacob T. Levy Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:22:30 +0000 http://thisfieldisrequired.com/?p=71#comment-21 I'm puzzled. This seems like the easiest of cases for a Kantian. I cannot will as a universal maxim that the cutter be allowed into line, because that would destroy the coherence of lining up. It's almost as clean a case as lying: the wrongness lies in the self-contradictory character. You cannot simultaneously will queues and cutting. Or, to put it differently: the cutter him or herself treats others as not-ends-in-themselves. Their time is not as valuable or important as his/her time. The one person who unilaterally, without the consent of every other person behind him or her, allows the cutter in thus *also* fails to treat those behind him/her as ends-in-themselves. The analysis you give under virtue ethics-- being generous with other people's time [and without their consent!] is directly relevant to any Kantian treatment, I would think. When I allow the cutter in, to please my own vain sense of myself as generous, I'm giving away two minutes of my life, *and 18 minutes of 9 other, unconsenting, persons' lives*, to save this new person 20 minutes. My act toward those 9 other persons is disrespectful and fails to treat them as full agents. No? I’m puzzled. This seems like the easiest of cases for a Kantian. I cannot will as a universal maxim that the cutter be allowed into line, because that would destroy the coherence of lining up. It’s almost as clean a case as lying: the wrongness lies in the self-contradictory character. You cannot simultaneously will queues and cutting.

Or, to put it differently: the cutter him or herself treats others as not-ends-in-themselves. Their time is not as valuable or important as his/her time. The one person who unilaterally, without the consent of every other person behind him or her, allows the cutter in thus *also* fails to treat those behind him/her as ends-in-themselves.

The analysis you give under virtue ethics– being generous with other people’s time [and without their consent!] is directly relevant to any Kantian treatment, I would think. When I allow the cutter in, to please my own vain sense of myself as generous, I’m giving away two minutes of my life, *and 18 minutes of 9 other, unconsenting, persons’ lives*, to save this new person 20 minutes. My act toward those 9 other persons is disrespectful and fails to treat them as full agents.

No?

]]> By: how to think about cutting in line: a follow-up « this field is required http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/08/06/how-not-to-think-about-cutting-in-line/comment-page-1/#comment-20 how to think about cutting in line: a follow-up « this field is required Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:52:07 +0000 http://thisfieldisrequired.com/?p=71#comment-20 [...] 12, 2009 Here is the second half to my previous post on this topic, as [...] […] 12, 2009 Here is the second half to my previous post on this topic, as […]

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