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Trolley Car Blues: Of Mules and Men

Trolley Car Blues: Of mules and men At first it seems a bit of stretch to put far fetched thought experiments with real world gritty blues, but that worry fades.  Trolleys and trains loom large as themes in blues music, and of course in the actual production of the tracks and cars.  Take  Michael Sandel's presentation of a couple well know versions of the "trolley problem"  as presented in his well know class on Justice at Harvard. One hub issue in the Trolley cases is how to compare the worth and value of a human life to other human lives, and how to determine costs and benefits, rights and obligations with that variable in mind when we make decisions which affect multiple lives in divergent ways.  Sandel notes that we have a difficulty of finding a 'common currency' with which to represent the relative worth of multiple and diverse human lives.  The traditional philosophical problem is called 'the problem of  intersubjective utility compa...
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Ethics And Blues:  An exercise in moral psychology Ethics and Blues is a chronicle of living ,  mattering  and learning   told   through  The Blues    in Oakland, ca. The fruits of this inquiry will provide a moral psychology for grounded moral inquiry. Answers are published quarterly featuring blues musicians commemorated on the Oakland Walk of Fame. Contributions are received in all forms of media and expression. We ask only two questions, but they get a lot done:  1. Why does The Blues matter to your life? 2. Why does Oakland matter to your life?  3.Why does your life matter to you? A Blues Life:   Ronnie Stewart A Blues Life: "Terrible" Tom Bowden Tom talks blues with students from University of San Francisco. More Rea l  blues lives  and  why they matter  coming soon!  Produced in conjunction with  West Coast Blues Societ...
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Ethics & THE OAKLAND BLUES

Ethics and The Blues  featuring "Terrible Tom" Bowden and other members of the Bay Area Blues Society.   Why might it be important to "keep the blues alive" in Oakland - that is what the Bay Area Blues Society is all about!! KGO news short with Ronnie Stewart & "Terrible Tom" Bowden (visiting USF soon!) Russell City Blues - background the biggest lil blues town no one knows about! <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0W4V3X33ppNclR4MS1QYVYzRmM/preview" width="640" height="385"></iframe>
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Picking Cotton and Mixing Labor

(PROMPT AT BOTTOM) Let's assume a Lockean theory of property for this exercise, in particular his theory of appropriation through mixing your labor with the land, and including the provisos to 'leave enough and as good' and non-spoilage.  It is likely that Locke himself, and certainly other colonial aspirants , sought to justify the colonization of what is now called North America with this theory of natural property rights.  One clear response is that appropriation through labor mixing only applies to unowned land, and of course an Indigenous people had been living throughout this continent for a long time.  With a prior owner, colonial labor mixing on the territory is not a mechanism for appropriation.  In response, the defender of colonial territory rights might argue that in this particular case we have an indigenous population that did not have a recognized right of ownership of land, did not cultivate agriculture and la...
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Can White People Play The Blues?

Cuttin to the chase, here is an argument from Phil Jenkins in the recent volume Blues and Philosophy from Wiley-Blackwell:   Co-edited by yours truly:) CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE:   DeJeana Burke & The Oakland Blues Divas:  Phil Jenkins. Yes,he's white Conclusion: White people cannot BCE! 1.The term ‘blues’ is ambiguous in meaning as it may refer to a distinct ‘blues musical form’ (BMF) or to ‘blues cultural expression’ (BCE) 2. BMF is in principle accessible to all, and can actually be performed by anyone with sufficient training and motor skills. 3.  White people can acquire the requisite training and motor skills. 4. Thus, white people CAN play BME. Muddy Waters 5. However, Blues as Cultural Expression (BCE) is only accessible to people that are members of the social group that created blues.  Specifically, to people that share the history of oppression and injustice of Blacks in America going...
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Lonesome Dogs and Platonic Harmonies

Higher Pleasures, Platonic Harmonies and Lonesome Dogs Let’s compare three representations of the soul from Plato, Mill, and Lightnin’ Hopkins.  Further, let's take these figures as all engaging in moral psychology -  an examination of the psychological nature of the moral subject.  How do moral agents work?  What psychologically realistic expectations can we have of them? What are the actual causes of our behavior? What is the lived experience of the moral life? Below are summaries of J.S. Mill's theory of higher pleasures, Plato's 'happiness as harmony' account of the just soul in Book VII of the Republic and Lightnin' Hopkins ' "Lonesome Dog".  So, I ask you, and please do give Lightnin' a listen below and you are encouraged to learn more about his work and life.  Below I have also included a few resources for understanding the relevant aspects of Plato and J.S. Mill. Prompt: 500-100 words. (A)What is the howlin' dog featured...
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