Sunstein III: Democracy, Democracies and the Internet

Introduction: Topics for the Second Essay

We'll begin by reading all the topics and trading questions and comments. We'll then turn to a final discussion of Sunstein's republic.com. Some questions we might consider:

• What are examples of "government regulations" you think justified and unjustified? Do you agree with Sunstein's point about there not being a non-regulated option for the Internet?
• What is Sunstein's defense of the view that "free speech is not absolute," and how do his views on free speech compare with your own?
• Which of the (6) "reform possibilities" discussed in chapter 8 do you think useful/practical/desirable?
• In the "Afterword", written for the paperback edition, Sunstein says that a central inspiration for republic.com was Jane Jacobs' 1961 classic, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which among other things pointed to and celebrated the function, diversity and vitality of public urban spaces. To what extent is the City (rather than the Village) your model of a well-functioning democracy?

Identifying the Domains of Politics, Knowledge and Ethics

We'll decide on the final form of the 3rd unit of the Seminar syllabus today, and try to come up with preliminary distinctions between the subjects of epistemology (i.e. ideas about knowledge), politics (i.e. ideas about government); and ethics (i.e.ideas about .... what?).

For Tuesday:: Read Chapter 8 of Duncan Langford's Internet Ethics, and remember that the papers are due by the end of the day on Wednesday, the 17th.

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