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→Liberal Metaphors
* Social ties are Children needing care
* Moral Action is the Nurturance of Social Ties
'''Morality as Happiness''': This is based on the assumption that unhappy people are less likely to be empathetic and nurturant, since they will not want others to be happier than they are. Therefore, to promote your own capacity for empathy and nurturance, you should make yourself as happy as possible, provided you don't hurt others in the process.
'
''Morality as Fairness''': Fairness is understood metaphorically in terms of the distribution of material objects. There are three basic liberal models of fair distribution:
# equal distribution;
# impartial rule-based distribution; and
# rights-based distribution.
'''Moral Growth''': Given that morality is conceptualized as uprightness, it is natural to conceptualize one's degree of morality as physical height, to understand norms for the degree of moral action as height norms, and to therefore see the possibility for "moral growth" as akin to physical growth. Where moral growth differs from physical growth is that moral growth is seen as being possible throughout one's lifetime.
'''The Nation-as-Family Metaphor '''
Applying the metaphor of the Nation as Family, with the government as parent, we get the liberal political worldview:
* The government, as nurturant parent, is responsible for providing for the basic needs of its citizens: food, shelter, education, and health care.
* Regulation: Just as a nurturant parent must protect his children, a government must protect its citizens -- not only from external threats, but also from pollution, disease, unsafe products, workplace hazards, nuclear waste, and unscrupulous businessmen.
* Environmentalism: Communion with the environment is part of nurturance, part of the realization of one's potential as a human being. Empathy includes
empathy with nature. Caring for children includes caring for future generations. Protection includes protection from pollution. All of these considerations support environmentalism.
* Feminism and Gay Rights: Nurturant parents want all their children to fulfill their potential, and so it is the role of government to provide institutions to
make that possible.
* Abortion: Women seeking abortion are either women who want to take control of their lives or teenage children needing help. Considerations of nurturance for both require providing access to safe, affordable abortions.
* Multiculturalism: Nurturant parents celebrate the differences among their children, and so governments should celebrate the differences among its citizens.
* Affirmative Action: Since women and minorities are not treated fairly in society, it is up to the government to do what it can to make sure that they have a fair chance at self-fulfillment.
* Art and the Humanities: Knowledge, beauty, and self-knowledge are part of human fulfillment, and so the government must see to it that institutions promote such forms of human nurturance.
* Taxation: Just as in a nurturant family it is the duty of older and stronger children to help out those that are younger and weaker, so in a nation it is the duty of citizens who are better-off to contribute more than those who are worse-off.
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