TED the lost art of democratic argument失落了的民主辩论艺术

One thing the world need, one thing the country desperately needs, it’s a better way of conducting our political debates. We need to rediscover the lost art of democratic argument.

Ex: shouting matches on cable TV . ideological food fights on the floor of Congress(usa) Over the gap between rich and poor. Over the affirmative(肯定赞成) action and the same-sex marriage.

What I would like to do today is have sth of a discussion.

First , let me take a famous philosopher who wrote about those questions of justice morality.--------- ARISTOTLE’s theory of justice:

According to the theory: justice means giving people what they deserve.

1.Flutes example: supposing we’re distributing flutes. who should get the best one? At

random. First person. Best flute players------the greatest benefit to all.

Aristotle: that’s what flutes are for: to be played well.

We sometimes should reason about and argue about the purpose of the thing of the social activity, in this case, musical performance. One of the reasons: The musical performance is not only to make the rest of us happy, but to honor and recognize the excellence of the best musicians.

2.Let’s take another contemporary example of the dispute about justice. Golf

Golf : ask the PGA for permission to use a golf car. The laws says that disabled

must be accommodated, provided the accommodation does not change the essential nature of activities.

Take a poll(举手表决)：have a good division of the opinion (half to half)

Not reason: be an unfair advantage. Walking the course is strenuous physical exercise. The fatigue factor is an important part of the golf.

Approve : ca r is not part of the game.

About the ruling and about discussion on what is the essential nature of sth.

Let me put the point as delicately as possible: golf players are a little sensitive about the athletic status of the game. It would be hard to confer on the golfing greats the status that we confer, the honor and recognition that goes to truly great athletes.

That illustrates it is hard to decide the questions of what justice requires.

What is the essential nature of the activity and what qualities what excellence connected with that activity are worthy of honor and recognition?

3.prominent in contemporary political debate: the same sex marriage.

There is a tendency to think that if we engage too directly with moral questions and politics. That’s a recipe for disagreement, and for that matter , a recipe for intolerance（不可容忍的）and

coercion(强迫)。So better to shy away from, to ignore the moral and the religious convictions(坚定信仰) that people bring to civic life. However, it seems that our discussion reflects the opposite. That a better to mutual(相互的) respect is to engage directly with the moral convictions that citizens bring to public life, rather than to require that people leave their deepest moral convictions outside the politics before they enter.-------------- that , it seems to me, is a way to begin to restore the art of democratic argument.