FELSEFE

EQUALITY

Equality is often presented as a political goal, an ideal worth aiming at. Those who argue for
some form of equality are known as ''egalitarians''. Egalitarians argue that governments should be
working to make the move from recognizing moral equality to providing some kind of equality in the lives
of those they govern.

Human beings could never be equal in every respect.Obviously human beings could never be equal in
every respect. We are different in intelligence, beauty and many other ways. The engalitarians can not
suggest a world full of clones. Equality is, then,always equality in certain respects, not in every respects.
When someone declares him or herself o be an egalitarian it is important to discover in what sense they
mean this. Some of the things which egalitarians often argue should be equally or more equally
distributed are money, acces to employment and political power

Equal distribution of money = an extreme egalitarian might argue that money should be equally
distributed between all adult beings, every acceptance precisely the same income

Equal opportunity in employment= Many egalitarians believe that everyone should have equal
opportunities even if here can be no equality of distiribution of wealth. Everybody must has same
rights.

Reserve discrimination= Reserve discrimination means actively recrviting people from previosly
underprivileged groups. Disadvantage groups must have more rights.

Political Equality= Democracy

Democracy is often a method of giving all citizens a share in political decision-making. However,
''democracy'' is used in a number of different ways. The first emphasizes the need for members of
the populatin to have an oppurtunity to participate in the government of the state , usually through
voting. The second emphasizes the need for a democratic state to reflect the true interests of the
people. The term democracy was coined by the Greeks of ancient Athens, but it was so limited.
Women, slaves and many other who lived in the city-state were not able to participant, just free
men voted.

Direct Democracy= Early democratic states were direct democracies, that is, those who were
suitable to vote discussed and voted. Direct democracies are only possible with a small number
of participants.
Representative Democracy= Today's democracies are representative democracies. In a
representative democracy elections are held in which voters selcet their favoured representatives.
We choose them, they represent us.

Freedom
Freedom is important to understand politics. Freedom is a word whish has been used in many
different ways. There are two main types of freedom in the political context the negative and the
positive.

Negative Freedom= One definition of freedom is the absence of coercion. Coercion is when
other people force you to behave in a particular way. If no one is coercing you then you are free
in this negative sense of freedom.Negative freedom is freedom from obstacle or restraint. If no
one is actively preventing you from doing something, then in that respect you are free.
Positive Freedom= Positive freedom is important for being conscious person. Positive freedom is
freedom to exercise control over your own life.

Common - sense realism

It assumes that there is a world a physical objects (houses,trees,books etc) so we can learn
about directly through our five senses. These physical objects continue to exist whether or not
we are perceiving them. What is more, these objects are more or less as they appear to us:
goldfish really are orange. This is because our organs of sense perception -eyes, ears,tongue,skin
and nose- They give us a realistic appreciatio of what is actually out there.
-We have knowledge, because we have senses
-Fşrstly, we must see

The Illusion Argument

The illusion argument says that we usually trust our sense, but there are time when they mislead
us. For instance most of us have had the embarassing experience of seeming to recognize a
friend in the distance, only to discover that we are waving to complete stanger. This argument is
a sceptical one becausse it challenfes our everyday belief -common sense realism- that the
senser provide us with knowledge of the world. We can not trust our senses. They can mislead
us.

Memory And Logic

When we say that we remember our senses being unreliable in the past, we assume that these
memories tehy are not just the products of our imagination or wishful thinking. However, if we
start seriously to question the reliability of memory, then we make all communication impossible:
if we can't assume that our memories of the meanings of words ae generally reliable, then there
is no way we can even discuss scepticism.
A second sort of assumption which scepties rarely call into doubt is the reliability of logic. If
sceptics were to call into question wheher logic is really reliable, then this would undermine
their positin. Sceptics use arguments which rely on logic: their aim is not to controdict
themselves. Memory and logic is important for philosophy.

Representative Realism
Representative realism is a modification of common-sense realism. It is called representative
because it suggests that all perception is a result of awareness of inner representations of the
external world. When I see a seagull I do not see it directly in the way that common-sense realism
suggests. I havve no direct sensory contact with the bird. Rather, what I m aware of is a mental
representation something like an innerpicture, of the seagulll. My visual experience is not directly
of the seagull, though it is caused by it, but rather it is experience of the representation of the
seagull my senses produce. Representatiue realism provides a response to objections raised by
the illusion argumet. Take the example of colour. The same dress can look very different when
viewed nder different lights. If we were to exomine the fibres of the dress material more closely
we would probably find them to be a mixture of colours. How it is perceiv