MetaFilter posts tagged with debate and philosophy

Paul Ryan as Romney's running-mate

Rhaomi — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 05:18:26 -0800

Paul Ryan. Seven-term congressman for Wisconsin's 1st District. Chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee. Architect of the controversial Ryan Budget -- a "Path to Prosperity" [PDF - video - CBO] that would slash trillions from the federal budget, sharply curtail taxes on the wealthy, and transform Medicare into a private voucher system. Proponent (vid) -- and renouncer -- of Ayn Rand 's Objectivism. Social Security beneficiary. Hunter. Weinermobile driver. And as of this morning, the 2012 Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States of America. Romney's selection of Ryan, widely seen as an overture to his disaffected conservative base, promises an election framed by titanic questions of economic and social equity. President Obama has already declared his vehement opposition to Ryan's policies, saying in April:

"It is a Trojan Horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. It is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who’s willing to work for it; a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class. And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last -- education and training, research and development, our infrastructure -- it is a prescription for decline."

It was not the first run-in between the president and the congressman, as the two exchanged sharp words in Obama's visit to the House GOP retreat and the 2010 healthcare roundtable. Ryan also delivered the Republican response to Obama's 2011 State of the Union address. Though Ryan's plans are celebrated as bold and necessary steps in conservative circles, not all agree with his aims. A wide swath of Georgetown faculty concurred with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in their moral criticism of the Ryan budget, writing:

In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love.

Ryan argues his support of Rand is limited to broad individualist ideals, but the implications of the Path to Prosperity echo the harsher rhetoric of the political right in recent years. After today's VP rollout on the deck of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va., comes a swing-state bus tour, the Republican National Convention in Tampa on August 27th, and a looming debate with current veep Joe Biden in September. The race? It is on. More: Paul Ryan - On The Issues Interest group scores PolitiFact profile A Reddit-backed effort to defeat Ryan at home TDS on the Ryan budget (part two)

...a fundamental element of human nature LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

cthuljew — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:50:43 -0800

Chomsky-Foucault Debate in 5 seconds (SLYT)

Lincoln/Douglas/Foucault/Zizek

escabeche — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:19:47 -0800

"Only if the opposing team can prove that the material world of our perceptions is real, and not a hallucination, do they earn the right to have their arguments considered on their merits." High school debate used to be the province of fast talkers with notecards full of facts and figures -- until literary theory got into the act. Kritik, a family of tactics derived from au courant Continental thinkers like Foucault, Zizek, Spivak (and old favorites like Nietzsche and Heidegger) aims not merely to counter the opposing team's arguments but to expose them as manifestations of implicit oppressive paradigms. Kritik was pioneered in the early 1990s by Ft. Hays State University debate coach Bill Shanahan (who later experimented with another novel tactic by mooning a rival debate coach in a college meet.) Feminism kritik. Fear of death kritik. Biopower/Foucault kritik (.doc file.) How to defeat the kritik.

Beyond Platitudes

ninebelow — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:53:23 -0800

Thought For The World is an alternative to the BBC's much mocked Thought For The Day. Contributors include the author and broadcaster Muriel Gray, the philosopher AC Grayling, agony aunt Claire Rayner, Jonathan Bartley of the religious think tank Ekklesia, Guardian Columnist Polly Toynbee, comedian Mark Thomas and Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh.

Battleground God.

Mossy — Thu, 30 May 2002 08:28:07 -0800

Battleground God. Consistency is the sign of a small mind. How small minded are you?