I think a complication is that some people answering might have a theory of justice wherein a fully just world by definition corrects/compensates any disadvantages that come with being blind. I think this view still raises concerns for people who either think that the loss of a major personal capability isn’t something that is fungible with any social compensation for reasons basic to their theory of autonomy/flourishing, or people who think that justice will not demand fully compensating disadvantages like this at all. Still, I doubt 40% of respondents think the less plausible interpretation of this answer is true.
I suppose I can see that. The word “disadvantaging” though seems to have a fairly uncontroversial definition to me. If we take “disadvantaging” to mean “insufficiently compensated for”, then what word means “generally harmful to the achievement of personal aims, relative to baseline ambitions”?
I took the answer more as (at best) a way of saying “I support disability rights”. Which I might actually be kinda OK with in a different context. Maybe while giving a public speech to a particular crowd. But this is an anonymous academic survey. At a certain point you have to put your foot down and say “this is what words mean”.
I’m not sure I even share your definition here, I think “disadvantaged” doesn’t refer to a lack of compensation or anything else so specific, just overall whether you are below the relevant threshold of advantages. This seems very straightforward and I don’t think I need a definition of disadvantage that specifically references compensation anywhere, just one that doesn’t discount a level of advantage if it turns out compensation was involved in getting it. I also kind of disagree that you can just rely on “this is what words mean” anyway. I have taken very few surveys where I could just literally answer all the questions. Because of phrasing limitations, many questions are only really designed to allow uncomplicated yes/no or multiple choice answers to a few possible positions. Typically I have to imagine a slightly different version of survey questions in order to answer them at all.
I think a complication is that some people answering might have a theory of justice wherein a fully just world by definition corrects/compensates any disadvantages that come with being blind. I think this view still raises concerns for people who either think that the loss of a major personal capability isn’t something that is fungible with any social compensation for reasons basic to their theory of autonomy/flourishing, or people who think that justice will not demand fully compensating disadvantages like this at all. Still, I doubt 40% of respondents think the less plausible interpretation of this answer is true.
I suppose I can see that. The word “disadvantaging” though seems to have a fairly uncontroversial definition to me. If we take “disadvantaging” to mean “insufficiently compensated for”, then what word means “generally harmful to the achievement of personal aims, relative to baseline ambitions”?
I took the answer more as (at best) a way of saying “I support disability rights”. Which I might actually be kinda OK with in a different context. Maybe while giving a public speech to a particular crowd. But this is an anonymous academic survey. At a certain point you have to put your foot down and say “this is what words mean”.
I’m not sure I even share your definition here, I think “disadvantaged” doesn’t refer to a lack of compensation or anything else so specific, just overall whether you are below the relevant threshold of advantages. This seems very straightforward and I don’t think I need a definition of disadvantage that specifically references compensation anywhere, just one that doesn’t discount a level of advantage if it turns out compensation was involved in getting it. I also kind of disagree that you can just rely on “this is what words mean” anyway. I have taken very few surveys where I could just literally answer all the questions. Because of phrasing limitations, many questions are only really designed to allow uncomplicated yes/no or multiple choice answers to a few possible positions. Typically I have to imagine a slightly different version of survey questions in order to answer them at all.