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A Hobbesian Theory of Justice

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A Hobbesian Theory of Justice A HOBBESIAN THEORY OF JUSTICE Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades des Doktors der PHILOSOPHIE vorgelegt von Da Rosa Ribeiro, André Gustavo an der Geisteswissenschaftliche Sektion Fachbereich Philosophie Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 27.03.2019 Referent: Peter Stemmer Referent: Jacob Rosenthal Konstanz, 2019 Konstanzer Online-Publikations-System (KOPS) URL: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-ou9fsqnd2hd35 To Adalberto, Angela, Daisy, and Érica Summary Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Contractarianism……………………………………………………………………....7 1 The Social Contract and Its Tradition................................................................................................7 1.1 Normativity................................................................................................................................8 1.2 Justification..............................................................................................................................11 1.3 The Social Contract..................................................................................................................13 2 Contractualism and Contractarianism.............................................................................................16 2.1 Different Perspectives..............................................................................................................17 2.2 The Differences in Hobbes and Locke.....................................................................................19 3 Contractarianism Thoroughly Presented.........................................................................................22 3.1 Instrumental View of Practical Rationality..............................................................................22 3.2 Morality as the Object of Justification.....................................................................................28 4 Conclusion of the Chapter...............................................................................................................38 Chapter Two: Distributive Justice......................................................................................................40 1 The Problem of Justice....................................................................................................................41 1.1 Distributive Justice and Its Problem........................................................................................41 1.2 The Problem of Justice in the Contractarian Context..............................................................45 2 Contractarian Distributive Justice...................................................................................................49 2.1 Private Property and Distributive Justice.................................................................................50 2.2 A Contractarian Conception of Justice: Justice as Natural Liberty.........................................52 2.3 Is Justice as Natural Liberty Sufficient?..................................................................................59 3 David Gauthier's Lockean Proviso..................................................................................................62 3.1 Gauthier's Argument for the Proviso.......................................................................................62 3.2 Gauthier's Proviso Considered.................................................................................................69 4 Conclusion of the Chapter...............................................................................................................75 Chapter Three: The Circumstances of Moral Justification.................................................................76 1 The Circumstances of Justice..........................................................................................................77 1.1 David Hume's View.................................................................................................................77 1.2 H.L.A. Hart's and John Rawls' Views......................................................................................81 1.3 Thomas Hobbes' View.............................................................................................................83 2 The Circumstances of Moral Cooperation.......................................................................................85 III 2.1 Unsocial Sociability.................................................................................................................85 2.2 The Social Balance of Power...................................................................................................90 2.2.1 Equality of Powers...........................................................................................................90 2.2.2 The Concept of Power......................................................................................................93 2.2.3 The Problem with the Equality of Powers View..............................................................96 2.2.4 A Balance of Power........................................................................................................106 2.3 Absence of Widespread Poverty............................................................................................110 2.3.1 Extreme Scarcity and Extreme Abundance....................................................................110 2.3.2 Poverty...........................................................................................................................113 2.4 The Three Circumstances of Moral Cooperation...................................................................116 3 Critiques.........................................................................................................................................117 3.1 D. Clayton Hubin's Critique and the Justificational Interpretation........................................117 3.2 Peter Vanderschraff's Critique and the Difference between Justification and Compliance...123 4 Conclusion of the Chapter.............................................................................................................129 Chapter Four: The Rational Conception of Stability........................................................................131 1 Stability..........................................................................................................................................132 1.1 The Fool, the Sensible Knave, and Compliance....................................................................132 1.2 Rawls' Two Senses of the Idea of Stability............................................................................133 1.3 The Rational Conception of Stability....................................................................................139 2 Stability and Rebellion..................................................................................................................144 2.1 Stability as a Public Good......................................................................................................144 2.2 The Rebel...............................................................................................................................153 3 Rebellion and the Circumstances of Moral Justification...............................................................158 3.1 Renegotiation Expectations...................................................................................................159 3.2 The Social Balance of Power.................................................................................................161 3.3 Absence of Widespread Poverty............................................................................................166 4 Conclusion of the Chapter............................................................................................................169 Chapter Five: The Instability of Justice as Natural Liberty..............................................................171 1 Preliminary Remarks.....................................................................................................................172 2 Justice as Natural Liberty and the Social Balance of Power.........................................................176 2.1 A Material Account of Power.................................................................................................176 2.2 Economic Power....................................................................................................................177 2.2.1 What is Economic Power...............................................................................................177 2.2.2 Shifts in the Distribution of Economic Power...............................................................179 IV 2.2.3 Economic Power and Stability.......................................................................................183 2.3 Political Power.......................................................................................................................192 2.3.1 What is Political Power..................................................................................................192 2.3.2 Shifts in the Distribution of Political Power..................................................................195 2.3.3 Political Power and Stability..........................................................................................199
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