The Way Things Are Does Not Determine

Some Parents Expend Great Efforts To Get Their Kids Into The Right Nursery School Or The Right Preschool, With The Thought That That Will Set Them On The Path To Success, To Competitive Success Especially.

One Of The Appeals Of Markets, As A Public Philosophy, Is They Seem To Spare Us The Need To Engage In Public Arguments About The Meaning Of Goods. So Markets Seem To Enable Us To Be Non-judgmental About Values. But I Think That's A Mistake.

If The Spirit Of Their Intercourse Were Still The Same After Their Coming Together As It Had Been When They Were Living Apart,' Aristotle Writes, Their Association Can't Really Be Considered A Polis, Or Political Community. 'a Polis Is Not An Association For Residence On A Common Site, Or For The Sake Of Preventing Mutual Injustice And Easing Exchange.' While These Conditions Are Necessary To A Polis, They Are Not Sufficient. 'the End And Purpose Of A Polis Is The Good Life, And The Institutions Of Social Life Are Means To That End.

I Have A Broad But Not An Expert Or Scholarly Background In The Jewish Tradition. I've Tried To Learn What I Can From Childhood, But I Am Not An Expert On Jewish Teachings.

Democracy Does Not Require Perfect Equality, But It Does Require That Citizens Share A Common Life. What Matters Is That People Of Different Backgrounds And Social Positions Encounter One Another, And Bump Up Against One Another, In The Course Of Ordinary Life.