Friday, November 19, 2004

The Common Ills

"It is only if we step outside the divinely ruled moral universe that we can really put our minds to the common ills we inflict upon one another every day."
-- Judith N. Shklar, Ordinary Vices, p. 1.

The Common Ills exists to comment primarily on the media & politics. Shklar identified the "common ills" as cruelty, hypocrisy, snobbery, treachery and misanthropy and noted that "they have both personal and public dimensions." Sounds like a strong frame for discussion and one that, no doubt, will quickly be forgotten as we dive in.