Groupings are fluid and change all through time. Individuals come and go into and out of them. You're imagining a tinkertoy world of static clockwork that fits whatever definition you want it to have, now and into the future. The groups you imagine being established "long ago" do not exist except in the minds of collectivists.
People are not aggregates; they are individuals. The idea that there are "black people" or "gay people" who can be legally defined and benefited (or abused) without running afoul of the law of unintended consequences is a delusion. There is no "average wealth" in any meaningful sense of the term; there is no "average utility" or "average satisfaction." Five joyful people and one miserable one do not constitute a "moderately happy group." The group is an abstraction; the individuals are the only real, concrete entities. "Happiness" is non-distributive.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Privilege or Justice: Pick one.
Date: 2009-03-13 09:15 pm (UTC)People are not aggregates; they are individuals. The idea that there are "black people" or "gay people" who can be legally defined and benefited (or abused) without running afoul of the law of unintended consequences is a delusion. There is no "average wealth" in any meaningful sense of the term; there is no "average utility" or "average satisfaction." Five joyful people and one miserable one do not constitute a "moderately happy group." The group is an abstraction; the individuals are the only real, concrete entities. "Happiness" is non-distributive.