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Pastimes : Discussion Thread
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From: TimF5/27/2010 11:08:25 PM
   of 3816
 
Theories as Maps

by Will Wilkinson on May 11, 2010

David Schmidtz says theories are like maps; they help us get where we’re trying to go. John Rawls’ theory of justice posits a closed society as a simplifying assumption. If theories are like maps, as Schmidtz says, a simplifying assumption in a theory is like leaving current patterns of traffic off a road map. But a theory of social justice for a closed society is like a map that says “Here there be monsters!” where your pants were made and where the guys who built your house were born. That’s not simplifying. That’s more like a map that shows roads dead-ending where there are actually bridges. It’s not just wrong, it makes the map pretty well useless, especially if there are a lot of bridges. If your theory of justice gives you no way to make sense of the guys who built your house, or of what you and they might owe to each other, you need a better theory.

willwilkinson.net
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