This may sound weird, but I don’t expect actual thinking from the rest because their value lies is faithfully reproducing old arguments, that were once progressive in their own time.
I expect high-quality reproduction. Classic greatest hits from Aristotle to Hayek.
Conversation
Virtue signaling is expected from believers in old ideas that have been distilled.
But “progressive” definitionally implies new ideas and fresh thinking. Stuff that hasn’t yet been compiled into “virtues” that can be signaled
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Most ideologies are almost by construction acting-dead ideologies (cf ). Progressive politics has historically been associated with subversive thought, good art that disturbs and challenges, etc. To virtue signal is to admit failure at the progressive acting-alive project.
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To resort to virtue signaling represents a deeper failure of progressivism than failure at politics.
It represents failure at art. Failure to consistently surprise yourself and others. Failure to put the familiar into unfamiliar perspectives.
Failure to in fact *progress*.
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Continuing from last night.
Typical progressive values — justice, compassion, sustainability — seem to be far more deeply rooted in tradeoffs and compromise relative to non-progressive ones. There is no such thing as a “purist” way to be just, compassionate, or sustainable.
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This might be why using them as fodder for virtue signaling is grating and smacks of authoritarianism.
Justice is a tradeoff between confidence in evidence vs timeliness of redressal of harms experienced
Compassion is a tradeoff between your pain and mine, present and future
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Sustainability is a tradeoff between living with the knowledge we have versus waiting to know it more deeply and completely.
You cannot actually practice any progressive value in a formulaic way. Every instance of applying it requires non-trivial thought.
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Replying to
I would not be dismayed with progressivism if it were actually like you describe here, which it could and should be, but seemingly isn't. Not now anyways.
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I don't even know what to call your position here. "pragmatism" would be fine except it's picked up this negative connotation of being associated with expediency and even self-interest.
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you're almost describing a sort of political version of moral particularism.
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Progress is the accumulation of generative reactions to particular surprises. It is not entailed by any totalizing set of values but it can subvert any such set with some probability.
You’re progressive if you side with subversion by default, with the defense by exception.
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