哈里斯：繁荣——民主和多元化
威廉玛丽学院（College of William and Mary）哲学教授乔治·哈里斯（George Harris）最近用卓越和多样性的价值观来说明，当社会不得不在它所珍视的事物之间做出艰难选择时，所带来的悲剧性损失。 “The two often complement each other, but at times they conflict,” he said.
哈里斯认为，在美国，和其他发达国家一样，人们倾向于避免艰难的选择。
“There’s a kind of American optimism that is very dangerous in my opinion,” Harris said. “It devises solutions to the problem that simply exacerbate the tragedy. 我们需要在某种程度上降低我们的期望。 我们需要问，在人类的条件下，什么样的生活是可能的，不要假装我们可以拥有一切。 The nature of our values is such that we cannot have it all, and we create more tragedy by avoiding that topic than if we addressed it head-on.”
Harris made the point during a videotaped interview focused on Reason’s Grief, his recent book. 在这篇文章中，他写道，太多的多元文化主义的倡导者未能承认不同的文化价值观和包容性的概念。 “That we can learn from other cultures, few would deny,” he wrote. “If that is what multiculturalism is, then that is one thing, a very good thing. But if multiculturalism means rejecting the time-tested values of secular pluralism, that is quite another.”
在采访中，哈里斯详细阐述了这一点。 “A pluralistic society needs something to bond it together. It’s not going to be its differences. We can’t celebrate all of our differences. 我们必须找到一种解决办法，使人们尽管存在分歧，但仍能团结在一起。 In my view, the solution to that problem is to share the burdens.”
In Harris’ view, the burdens often are reflective of the tragic losses each group must entail.