Difference between revisions of "MAR 25"

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==20: MAR 25 Unit Four: Justice and Justified Partiality==
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==17. MAR 25==
  
===Assigned===
+
===Assigned Work (Heavy Reading Day)===
  
[https://www.npr.org/2020/06/05/870352402/playing-favorites-when-kindness-toward-some-means-callousness-toward-others Hidden Brain, "Playing Favorites: When kindness toward some means callousness toward others"]
+
:*Shore, Eliott, "Dining Out" (263-292; 29)
 +
:*Ruhlman, "How the A&P Changed the Western World" (29-42) (13)
  
===Introduction to Justified Partiality Unit===
+
===In-class===
  
:*A typical question for thinking about social justice is,
+
:*Re-imagining the restaurant
::*'''"What do I owe strangers?"'''.  You can think of our approach in this unit as an indirect way of addressing that question by asking,
 
::*'''"What, if any, are the limits of partiality to family, intimates, friends?
 
' (Your preference network)''' 
 
  
:*Today's class is focused on "personal partiality," the kind that shows up in our interpersonal social relationships.  The next class will focus on '''"impersonal altruism"''', which shows up in our commitments, if any, to benefit strangers, especially strangers in our society, but in some cases, globally.
 
  
:*Three big questions:
+
===Pre-supermarket culture in Italy===
::*1. What are some the social functions of '''personal preferential treatment'''?  (Draw in material from podcast)
 
::*2. Could our networks of preferential treatment be the effect of and also promote injustice?
 
::*3. What principles or considerations might lead you to direct some resources (time, money, in-kind aid) outside your preference network?
 
  
===Small Group Discussion: Questions 1 & 2===
+
:*[Digression on pre-supermarket food culture in Italy.] 
 +
::*[http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/cucina/vocabulary-specialty-shop-names-in-italy Some terms for pre-supermarket shops].
 +
::*Some images of Italian supermarkets and remaining small shops today:
 +
:::*[https://photos.app.goo.gl/nDpDAoLFPfS8yBNw5 Herbs]
 +
:::*[https://photos.app.goo.gl/pxXY13oHk7FvGyn36 Traditional mercato in Bologna]
 +
:::*[https://photos.app.goo.gl/x3qparoUb5bFLoVz9 Remaining panificeria in Florence], [https://photos.app.goo.gl/KMoSq6MsXkQLA3FB9 Street food - tripe sandwiches!]
 +
:::*[https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bb1g46UMW1USfbdFA Traditional Pasta Fresca, Bologna].
 +
:::*Typical Italian supermarket meat section: [https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ifpdhhwlxapsqy/Shrink%20wrapped%20meat%201.jpg?dl=0 1], [https://www.dropbox.com/s/eokq86wdpt2d7ef/Shrink%20wrapped%20meat%202.jpg?dl=0 2].
  
::*We have been developing a theory of morality based on the evolution of social behaviors and the cultural evolution that has led to the current range of human cultures. Morality seems to have evolved to help us address basic challenges - from reproduction to forming partnerships and coalitions, and benefiting from cooperation, managing hierarchy.   
+
===Ruhlman, "How the A&P Changed the Western World"===
  
::*In your small groups think about your "preference network" (friends, family, nation) work and what functions they serveYou might start by listing "mutual aid"Do preference network serve other functions?
+
:*Modern supermarket: 40-50,000 itemsStrong market pressure not to miss consumer preferenceIn '75 only 9,000.
  
::*1. What are some the social functions of '''personal preferential treatment'''? Make a list.
+
:*Some evidence that lots of choices undermines rational decision making 31. 15 types of eggs.  not just small, med, large.
  
::*2. Could our networks of preferential treatment be the effect of and also promote injustice? Recall the story of the professor in our podcast from today. Generate more and generalized examples.   
+
:*Background of stores against which rise of "A&P tea company" took place. George Gilman, Great American Tea Company, then Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company.  Started with a brand of tea. Higher profit margin than groceries.   
  
===Hidden Brain, "Playing Favorites"===
+
:*Three innovations: brand, premiums (gifts for purchases made), trading stamps.  baking powder a novel product (note, not in Italy).  Other early competitors: Grand Union.  Brands: consistency, purity (closed containers). 
  
:*Intro
+
:*'''Importance of branding'''. Old grocer sold unbranded staples, only competed on priceCanning and boxed foods allow for branding. (Commercial paper bag and cardboard box created during this time.) Also allows for centralized food processing.  A&Ps opened at 7 stores a day for a while.  Also led to modern supply chain.
::*Expectations for unique attention from one's beloved. We'd rather an inferior unique message than a message shared with othersWe want partiality. (Think about cases in which someone shows you a simple preference -- offering to pay for coffee, give you a ride somewhere, just showing you attention.)
 
::*How does Partiality fit with a desire for justice as equal treatment?
 
  
:*Discrimination research: IAT - Implicit association test - Mahzarin Banaji one of the researchers on IAT.
+
:*A&P: 1900: $5million, 1925: $350 million, Today: $4.8billionPower of scaling up supply chains.
::*Mahzarin Banaji and Carla Kaplan. Friends in the 80s being among the few women at Yale.  Story of injury to Carla.  She gets preferential treatment because she is a professor, rather than because she was a quilter. 
 
::*Is it discrimination if you are given a preference? [Imagine a system of preferences given to those we know. Could such a system support systemic injustice?]  Someone decides to show you "special kindness"?  Language of discrimination based on "commission".  But what about omission?  Hard to know if you didn't get preferential treatment.  Yikes!  Carla got to see both what it was like to be treated same and different.
 
::*Story by Mahzarin about interview. Suddenly, the in-group information about being a Yaley was enough to trigger a preferencePreference networks in Ivy leagues schools.  But also Gonzaga!!!  We actively cultivate a preferential network for you!  Because we care about you!
 
::*"Helping those with whom you have a group identity" 
 
::*Interesting feature of favoritism -- You often don't find out that you didn't get preferential treatment
 
::*'''Favoritism doesn't get as much attention as discrimination.'''
 
  
:*Can you avoid favoritism? 
+
:*Early 20th century: self-servicePiggly Wiggly[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piggly_Wiggly]
::*Could be based on "green beard effect" same school, etc.
+
:*1930s: shopping cart.   
::*Story of Dillon Matthews. Tries to avoid favoritismSinger's argument about helping others in needThought experiment: Saving a child from a pond ruins your suit.  Utilitarian altruism. Principle: If you can do good without giving up something of equal moral significance, you should do it.  Give Well - documented charity work.
+
:*1920s: refrigeration (allowed for meats and frozen foods).   p 41: King Kullen -- sig: bigger store, located off main street1930Depression era.
::*'''Effective altruism movement'''.  The most good you can do. Evidence based altruism.  Hannah.  Focused on family, friends, your neighborhood, city.  Parental lesson.  Dinner together.  Debating moral philosophy on a first date! Wow! It doesn't get any better than that. 
 
::*Utilitarian logic.  Equal happiness principle.  Dillon not focused on preference to people near him, but on effectiveness of altruism.   
 
::*Dillon donates a kidney to a stranger.  Hmm. Not giving his kidney felt like hoarding something.  Hannah felt her beloved was taking an unnecessary risk.  Stranger made a diff. to her. 
 
::*The Trolley Problem again, this time from Joshua Greene himself!!  Watch "The Good Place".
 
::*What if the person you had to sacrifice was someone you loved.  Dillon might do it. Dillion would do it.  "They are all the heroes of their own stories..." Dillon would sacrifice Hannah.  Hannah might sacrifice Dillion just know that's what he would want, but noShe wouldn't.
 
::*Greene: She recognizes that what he would do is rationalHe's willing to override it, but might not be able to live with himself for doing that.
 
  
:*Naturalness of preference.  Evolutionary background
+
===Shore, Eliott, "Dining Out"===
::*Preference promotes cooperation. Suite of capacities.  A package.  Don't lie, cheat, steal...
 
::*Kin cooperation....Cooperation among friends... reciprocity...semi-strangers (same religion. friend of friend)...
 
::*Moral concentric circles.  How big is my "Us"?  What is the range of humans I care about?
 
::*Greene's analogy of automatic and manual camera modes.  (Two systems. Automatic and Deliberate.)  Difficult decisions might require '''manual mode'''.  dlPFC for utilitarians (high cog load).  Automatic -- amygdala.  Snakes in the grass. Thank your amygdala.  (List: Easy calls: sharing concert tickets with a friend.  Buying dinner for an intimate partner. Giving a more valuable gift to one person than another. Harder: Figuring out whether to donate money to help people far away.  How much?)
 
::*'''Crying baby scenario'''.  Inevitable outcomes seem to matter here.  Brain wrestles, as in experience. vmPFC. 
 
::*Lack of Tribal identity might tilt us toward rule based ethics. Equal treatment.
 
::*Loyalty cases: men placing loyalty to men above other virtues.  Assumptions about family relationship. Do families sometime impose on your loyalty? 
 
::*Back to Dillon: Acknowledges limits.  Liver story.  Bits of liver.  It grows back. Partners not so much.
 
  
::*How do you decide the limits of your partiality.  How big is my "US"?
+
:*Last 50 years of restaurant history is different — explosion of venues, menus, and cuisines.
::*Donations matter even if you don't give your kidney.  This can save lives.
 
::*If you saved a life in person, you'd never forget it, but most professionals in the US have this ability, if not in person.
 
  
===Question #3: Finding principles and resources for developing a position on "Justified Partiality"===
+
:*Restaurants in China during Hangzhou - 1280.  !!
  
:*Let's define a couple of viewpoints to get started. Note that these views draw on both our study of morality as an evolved system as well as our philosophical theories:
+
:*264: defining traits of restaurant - follow.  [A distinct kind of pleasure. Something only the wealthy would have been able to do “in house”. Connect to history of happiness.]
  
::*'''Tribalism''' - The view that there are no limits to partiality to our social network. Just as no one has a right to my friendship, no one has a moral complaint against me if I spend all of my resources on my partiality network. The tribalist might point the importance and naturalness of having a kin and friendship social network.  Helping people outside this network might still be justified by self-interest.  A libertarian might arrive at a similar practical position, though from a focus on individual liberty and "self-ownership".
+
:*vs. “Table d’hote”, coffee house, inn (ex from Don Quixote), “take away” existed in Paris, for example.
  
::*"'''Post-Tribal Urbanism'''" - Values sustaining large scale societies, supporting market exchanges (with strangers) require building social trust, impersonal honesty, and impersonal altruismAdd a "Rawlsian twist" for refreshing additional theory!
+
:*1st modern restaurants in Paris just before the revolution, 1760s….  = restoratifHealth foodBoullion based soups(From Gratzer, Restuarants allowed women to go out unescorted.). “Cabinets particuliers allowed for secrete liaisons! (Restaurant connects to intimacy at the start.). “Private in public”. Also political liaisons.
 
 
::*'''Utilitarian Globalism''' - Following the equal happiness principle, the view that we ought to constrain our natural tendency to favor our ownIn principle, saving a life 12,000 miles from here is the same as saving a life in your communitySo, if you can save two lives....etc.  
 
  
::*'''Extreme Altruism''' - Live simply (maybe combine this with beliefs about avoiding consumerism). Maximize givingDon't leave any organs un-recycled. A bit of liver can go a long way!
+
:*Nice description 271 of how a fancy French restaurant, La France Taverne de Londres, appeared to an American.   
  
===Small Group Discussion #2: How Big is Your "Us"?===
+
:*The first food critics, gourmands, Grimod (and Brilliat-Savarin).  The rise of gastronomy.  Stickers on the windows started here. 
  
:*Imagine three futures for yourself.  In all of them, you grow up to have a successful career, a family with two kids, and a medium size extended family.  You are approaching retirement and your retirement and estate planning recalls a distant memory of an ethics class which talked about "justified partiality." You and your partner are wondering if you should leave all of your estate to your children or not.  Consider these three scenarios:
+
:*New York restaurant culture — The Del Monico.
::*A. You and your partner retire with about 1 million dollars, a paid off house, and good health insurance.
 
::*B. You have all of the conditions in A, but 2 million dollars in net worth.
 
::*C. Same as B, but 8 million dollars.
 
  
:*For all three scenarios, assume that all indication suggest continued growth of your assets.
+
===Re-imagining the Restaurant===
  
:*In each scenario, how much, if any, of your estate would you will to people or causes that do not benefit people in your preference network?  After your discussion, please fill out [https://forms.gle/maWP7CUfhWqYbuYt6 this google form].  
+
:*Since the opening of the first modern restaurants in Paris around 1780, the concept of the restaurant has developed, especially in the 21st century.  Think of the variety of eateries and restaurants we have now, from food trucks, to traditional fast food, to healthy concept fast food.
  
:*[https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/second-quarter-2019/wealth-retired-households Data on household net worth at retirement]
+
:*Use your philosophical imaginations to think through a new combination of values that a new kind of restaurant might realize.  During our discussion of the Gopnik piece we will develop a list of "restaurant values" -- both of the first modern restaurant and the ones that followed.  Then, in group discussion, try to think about what you can't get from the contemporary array of restaurants, but something you would value.  You ideas may range from things you would like to see more restaurants do to kinds of restaurants that do not exist.
 +
 
 +
===Gopnik, Adam, "Who Made the Restaurant?" (13-57)===
 +
 
 +
:*from ''The Table Comes First''
 +
 
 +
:*opening description - follow -- illusion of dining room, relation to romance, difference from previous types: table d'hote, traiteur, caterer.
 +
::*Traits of modern restaurant: waiters, menus, tables, mirrors, closed kitchen, seduction, silences..(privacy in public)
 +
 
 +
:*personal experiences -- HoJo to Paris - Grand Vefour  -- restaurants and writers' scenes.  (search "Howard Johnson's Simple Simon and the Pie Man—1950's images" to see the original HoJo restaurant sign.).  Interesting how many of the characteristics are in common between the two restaurants.
 +
 
 +
:*19: account of origin of restaurant starts here:
 +
 
 +
:*old story - post french revolution, displaced help from nobles.  But restaurant starts 20 years earlier.  Restaurant not like home service. 
 +
 
 +
:*three factors: intellectual causes (health and simplicity), commercial causes (new site for restaurants in/around Palais Royal), moral/social cause (breakdown of caste/class leading up to Rev)
 +
 
 +
:*Mathrurin Roze de Chantoiseau -- first restauranteur.  note root meanings of "restaurant" - associated with bullion and restoratives.  Early restaurant served healthy foods that you couldn't source (22), not esoteric or exotic.  Chantoiseau introduced more of a pleasure motive to the restaurant. 
 +
 
 +
:*Gender dimension to the new restaurant: Women could go together in public (!). Also, the restaurant can make you feel rich.  Fancier than your stuff.  Another early restauranteur, Vacossion, focused on simple foods that individuals could not source themselves.  "nouvelle cuisine"
 +
 
 +
:*French Revolution actually problematic for the early restaurant -- communalism of the table d'hote more suited to egalitarianism.
 +
 
 +
:*Commercial scene of the Palais Royal -- first mall. 27: 1780-1830 -- period of growth of restaurants  - reflected some international ethnic cusine, but points out that the southern provinces of France would seem as exotic to Parisians and North African cuisine might seem to us.  "Provencal"
 +
 
 +
:*The modern restaurant also developes alongside gastronomy.  Among the first, Brillat-Savarin, ''The Physiology of Taste''.   
 +
 
 +
:*Adopted “'''Russian service'''” (sequence of courses, dishes chosen by each diner) rather than '''French banquet service''' (piles of dishes on a sideboard from which waiters serve)  (consider the individualism in this) -- note how this changes the motivations of restauranteurs to be entrepreneurial.  (Wealth of Nations, 1776)
 +
 
 +
:*'''Part two of the chapter: The French Cafe''':  compares the emergence of the restaurant to the newer cafe, which did come into being by post-revolution licensing law changes allowing coffee/alcohol in same place.  alcohol a myopic drug / caffeine a far sighted drug.  33-37, importance of.  (Digress to consider how we handle this now and in different places.)  note Paris / London comparisons p. 33.  The cafe is a hangout, unlike the more formal restaurant. 
 +
 
 +
:*Brings in Pierre Bourdieu and Priscilla Park Ferguson -- "social field" , like a "scene"  (examples of "gastronomic scenes" -- craft beer, local roasted coffee....)  features of a food scene:  writing, end of famine, enjoyment of food not seen as a sin, but mark of cultivation. 
 +
 
 +
:*Brillat-Savarin, 1825 Physiology of Taste.  introduces word "gastronomy" 42ff.  defines the "gourmand" in terms of enthusiasm about one's appetite and taste for food. analogy to the pleasure of flirtation, which he also claimed was a french invention (!).  "Soft power" (mention slow food, also a political movement).  With greater food security, enjoying food for its own sake change form vice to virtue (mention Happiness history here)
 +
 +
:*Rival, Grimod La Reyniere -- real foodie, spent the revolution eating great food, somewhat abstracted.  Rated restaurants and gave them stickers for their windows.  The discussion here suggests how the vocabulary of the French gastronomic moment developed.
 +
 
 +
:*54:  Habermas' theory about "Enlightenment eating" -- creates social capital.  Issue at the end:  Is the restaurant a bourgeoisie trap or an instrument of enlightenment?

Latest revision as of 20:50, 25 March 2024

17. MAR 25

Assigned Work (Heavy Reading Day)

  • Shore, Eliott, "Dining Out" (263-292; 29)
  • Ruhlman, "How the A&P Changed the Western World" (29-42) (13)

In-class

  • Re-imagining the restaurant


Pre-supermarket culture in Italy

  • [Digression on pre-supermarket food culture in Italy.]

Ruhlman, "How the A&P Changed the Western World"

  • Modern supermarket: 40-50,000 items. Strong market pressure not to miss consumer preference. In '75 only 9,000.
  • Some evidence that lots of choices undermines rational decision making 31. 15 types of eggs. not just small, med, large.
  • Background of stores against which rise of "A&P tea company" took place. George Gilman, Great American Tea Company, then Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. Started with a brand of tea. Higher profit margin than groceries.
  • Three innovations: brand, premiums (gifts for purchases made), trading stamps. baking powder a novel product (note, not in Italy). Other early competitors: Grand Union. Brands: consistency, purity (closed containers).
  • Importance of branding. Old grocer sold unbranded staples, only competed on price. Canning and boxed foods allow for branding. (Commercial paper bag and cardboard box created during this time.) Also allows for centralized food processing. A&Ps opened at 7 stores a day for a while. Also led to modern supply chain.
  • A&P: 1900: $5million, 1925: $350 million, Today: $4.8billion. Power of scaling up supply chains.
  • Early 20th century: self-service. Piggly Wiggly. [1]
  • 1930s: shopping cart.
  • 1920s: refrigeration (allowed for meats and frozen foods). p 41: King Kullen -- sig: bigger store, located off main street. 1930. Depression era.

Shore, Eliott, "Dining Out"

  • Last 50 years of restaurant history is different — explosion of venues, menus, and cuisines.
  • Restaurants in China during Hangzhou - 1280. !!
  • 264: defining traits of restaurant - follow. [A distinct kind of pleasure. Something only the wealthy would have been able to do “in house”. Connect to history of happiness.]
  • vs. “Table d’hote”, coffee house, inn (ex from Don Quixote), “take away” existed in Paris, for example.
  • 1st modern restaurants in Paris just before the revolution, 1760s…. = restoratif. Health food. Boullion based soups. (From Gratzer, Restuarants allowed women to go out unescorted.). “Cabinets particuliers allowed for secrete liaisons! (Restaurant connects to intimacy at the start.). “Private in public”. Also political liaisons.
  • Nice description 271 of how a fancy French restaurant, La France Taverne de Londres, appeared to an American.
  • The first food critics, gourmands, Grimod (and Brilliat-Savarin). The rise of gastronomy. Stickers on the windows started here.
  • New York restaurant culture — The Del Monico.

Re-imagining the Restaurant

  • Since the opening of the first modern restaurants in Paris around 1780, the concept of the restaurant has developed, especially in the 21st century. Think of the variety of eateries and restaurants we have now, from food trucks, to traditional fast food, to healthy concept fast food.
  • Use your philosophical imaginations to think through a new combination of values that a new kind of restaurant might realize. During our discussion of the Gopnik piece we will develop a list of "restaurant values" -- both of the first modern restaurant and the ones that followed. Then, in group discussion, try to think about what you can't get from the contemporary array of restaurants, but something you would value. You ideas may range from things you would like to see more restaurants do to kinds of restaurants that do not exist.

Gopnik, Adam, "Who Made the Restaurant?" (13-57)

  • from The Table Comes First
  • opening description - follow -- illusion of dining room, relation to romance, difference from previous types: table d'hote, traiteur, caterer.
  • Traits of modern restaurant: waiters, menus, tables, mirrors, closed kitchen, seduction, silences..(privacy in public)
  • personal experiences -- HoJo to Paris - Grand Vefour -- restaurants and writers' scenes. (search "Howard Johnson's Simple Simon and the Pie Man—1950's images" to see the original HoJo restaurant sign.). Interesting how many of the characteristics are in common between the two restaurants.
  • 19: account of origin of restaurant starts here:
  • old story - post french revolution, displaced help from nobles. But restaurant starts 20 years earlier. Restaurant not like home service.
  • three factors: intellectual causes (health and simplicity), commercial causes (new site for restaurants in/around Palais Royal), moral/social cause (breakdown of caste/class leading up to Rev)
  • Mathrurin Roze de Chantoiseau -- first restauranteur. note root meanings of "restaurant" - associated with bullion and restoratives. Early restaurant served healthy foods that you couldn't source (22), not esoteric or exotic. Chantoiseau introduced more of a pleasure motive to the restaurant.
  • Gender dimension to the new restaurant: Women could go together in public (!). Also, the restaurant can make you feel rich. Fancier than your stuff. Another early restauranteur, Vacossion, focused on simple foods that individuals could not source themselves. "nouvelle cuisine"
  • French Revolution actually problematic for the early restaurant -- communalism of the table d'hote more suited to egalitarianism.
  • Commercial scene of the Palais Royal -- first mall. 27: 1780-1830 -- period of growth of restaurants - reflected some international ethnic cusine, but points out that the southern provinces of France would seem as exotic to Parisians and North African cuisine might seem to us. "Provencal"
  • The modern restaurant also developes alongside gastronomy. Among the first, Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste.
  • Adopted “Russian service” (sequence of courses, dishes chosen by each diner) rather than French banquet service (piles of dishes on a sideboard from which waiters serve) (consider the individualism in this) -- note how this changes the motivations of restauranteurs to be entrepreneurial. (Wealth of Nations, 1776)
  • Part two of the chapter: The French Cafe: compares the emergence of the restaurant to the newer cafe, which did come into being by post-revolution licensing law changes allowing coffee/alcohol in same place. alcohol a myopic drug / caffeine a far sighted drug. 33-37, importance of. (Digress to consider how we handle this now and in different places.) note Paris / London comparisons p. 33. The cafe is a hangout, unlike the more formal restaurant.
  • Brings in Pierre Bourdieu and Priscilla Park Ferguson -- "social field" , like a "scene" (examples of "gastronomic scenes" -- craft beer, local roasted coffee....) features of a food scene: writing, end of famine, enjoyment of food not seen as a sin, but mark of cultivation.
  • Brillat-Savarin, 1825 Physiology of Taste. introduces word "gastronomy" 42ff. defines the "gourmand" in terms of enthusiasm about one's appetite and taste for food. analogy to the pleasure of flirtation, which he also claimed was a french invention (!). "Soft power" (mention slow food, also a political movement). With greater food security, enjoying food for its own sake change form vice to virtue (mention Happiness history here)
  • Rival, Grimod La Reyniere -- real foodie, spent the revolution eating great food, somewhat abstracted. Rated restaurants and gave them stickers for their windows. The discussion here suggests how the vocabulary of the French gastronomic moment developed.
  • 54: Habermas' theory about "Enlightenment eating" -- creates social capital. Issue at the end: Is the restaurant a bourgeoisie trap or an instrument of enlightenment?