Forum on Health Care Reform with Dr. Milton Fisk

This past Tuesday, on a cool and rainy evening, about 30 citizens gathered at the First Unitarian Church to hear Dr. Milton Fisk, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Indiana University. Fisk was in town to talk about the issue health care and to discuss various topics including what is happening currently with the public option, the potential benefits of a single payer system and how citizens can put pressure on the current administration to enact positive and meaningful change.

This forum was sponsored by Cincinnati Progressive Action, the Single Payer Action Network, the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, and The Cincinnati Beacon. (and though this may seem obvious: in full disclosure, I am a regular contributor to the Cincinnati Beacon).

From Dr. Fisk's website:

Milton Fisk was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Following the example of both of his parents, he became an academic. He received a BS in chemistry from Notre Dame and a PhD in philosophy from Yale. Prior to coming to Indiana University in Bloomington, he held faculty positions at Notre Dame and at Yale. He is the author of a number of books, including Nature and Necessity (1973), Ethics and Society (1980), The State and Justice (1989), and Toward a Healthy Society (2000).

Early in his career, he concentrated on a realist interpretation of physical science, which led him to develop a theory of causality based on a notion of natural necessity. An engagement with movements for social change led to his writing on issues in social philosophy and in political morality. In this work, one of his constant themes is that social divisions place a burden of proof on moralists who advocate universalism in ethics that they have not met. His recent study of health care reform led him to appreciate the important role public goods should play in political morality.

He served as a board member of the American Philosophical Association-Central Division, and is serving on the steering committee of the Radical Philosophy Association. He was a member of the Indiana Health Care Campaign and was active with Jobs with Justice, serving as a director of its Workers Rights Board for south-central Indiana. He is currently working on a living wage campaign in Bloomington.
At present, he is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Indiana University. His favorite activity is mountain walking, and his most difficult task is remembering the birthdays of his eight grandchildren.

Below are the full comments of Dr. Fisk as well as a Question and Answer session with members of the audience. I encourage you to watch this forum in full:




















This piece is cross posted here.