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Doubts about Viewpoint Diversity
- webmaven 4y ago> What the argument misses is that academia should not be organized so as to maximize the welfare of academics — not of a coalition of minorities, not even of all academics put together. Academia should be organized to maximize the welfare of society. An interesting idea, though I'd like to see some supporting argument, as I don't think this should simply be assumed. There is also unspoken pushback here against the notion that organizing for the benefit of a small group implicitly also maximizes the benefit for society as a whole. Nevertheless, let's treat it as a given. Is academia unique in this regard? How about other groups, organizations, and segments of society? Should corporations be organized to maximize the welfare of society? How about corporate management? Can we make similar statements about professions, or industries, or economic classes? How should societal welfare be measured? Or if measurement is difficult, approximated or estimated? Are there other positive values that are in tension with this goal of maximizing societal welfare? Where we have laws or regulations that are directly justified by an appeal to societal welfare, should the specifics of those laws be subject to empirical verification of that welfare, or is a hand-wave sufficient?