Thought Travels

Concepts

1. Should decisions be evaluated on intention/intent or consequences? Yudhisthira and Draupadi dialogue. Same as free speech.

2. Four paths of artha, kama, dharm and moksha.

3. Swa Dharma i.e. of the caste of the Kshatriya. Or sadharan dharma i.e. voice of conscience?

4. Why be good? I) Instinsic i.e. swabhav ii) religious reason of later reward iii) consequencialist view IV) take the human ship farthest v) fulfils purpose of flourishing human life

5) Three paths of salvation: Gyan yog, karam yog and bhakti yog.

# posted by Abhijat @ 8:33 PM 0 comments

1. Economics does not differentiate between ability and willingness to pay.

2. Valuing something inappropriately. I.e. in non monetary terms is degrading it. Why should traffic in human beings not be allowed.

3. Difference between fee and fine. Fine registers opprobrium of society.

4. Coercion and bribery. Bribery like bribing a judge is saying something i.e. the verdict should not be up for sale.

5. Coercion means under what circumstances is a transaction really 'free' ? That the person had a realistic chance of saying no. Take advantage of say things like poverty.

6. Two objections to say prostitution - coercion and corruption. Cooperation objection means that very few women would do it voluntarily.  They are cooerced into it by say poverty. Corruption means it is inherently degrading to women.

# posted by Abhijat @ 6:17 PM 0 comments

Places to travel

I know it is useless to have more than 10 in this list as you possibly cannot visit every place.

1. Machu Picchu and Peru
2. Brazil - Rio
3. New Zealand
4. Switzerland
5. Istanbul
6. Jerusalem
7. American road trip - new Orleans
8. Northern Lights
9. Samarkand
10.Egypt

Books to read

Frankly I dont have a collection but I do have an idea of how many books I can read if I live till my 70s. Around 1200 including those that I have read before.

What are things that I want to continue doing if I had to continue living
1. Read
2. Eat and Enjoy

# posted by Abhijat @ 7:04 AM 0 comments

ÓBasis of free speech

1. Possibility of being wrong - rebuttal men will never be sure but that cannot prevent action including silencing others. But reason free speech should be allowed is that if there is challenge and eventually one will prevail then it will be believed more feverently.

2. Govt  justified in curtailing free speech to prevent harm to others. But that depends on context. Not in an academic journal. Only if free speech is incidinary.

3. Attempt vs intent in criminal law - near intended completion. So it is with point 2.

4. Do you persecute basis the words of the speaker (intent - words are triggers for action) or the likely action (reasonable consequence)? The test of 'consequence' is vague and puts too much power in the state/govt?

5. Free speech protected in all cases except active incitement. Speech to be limited has to be imminent to threaten immediate interference in lawful programs. Not 'clear and present'  danger.
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6. Acts of private vs state discrimination. Caste discrimination can happen 'privately'.

7. Does state violate the 'liberty to contract' ? Or should the 'police power' of the state prevail?

8. US has a history of Right to property directly coming from their slave-owning past.

9. Should judiciary subscribe to the 'felt nececities of it's times'. I agree.

# posted by Abhijat @ 8:07 PM 0 comments