Libertarian Theories of Intergenerational Justice Hillel
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Hume's Theory of Justice*
RMM Vol. 5, 2014, 47–63 Special Topic: Can the Social Contract Be Signed by an Invisible Hand? http://www.rmm-journal.de/ Horacio Spector Hume’s Theory of Justice* Abstract: Hume developed an original and revolutionary theoretical paradigm for explaining the spontaneous emergence of the classic conventions of justice—stable possession, trans- ference of property by consent, and the obligation to fulfill promises. In a scenario of scarce external resources, Hume’s central idea is that the development of the rules of jus- tice responds to a sense of common interest that progressively tames the destructiveness of natural self-love and expands the action of natural moral sentiments. By handling conceptual tools that anticipated game theory for centuries, Hume was able to break with rationalism, the natural law school, and Hobbes’s contractarianism. Unlike natu- ral moral sentiments, the sense of justice is valuable and reaches full strength within a general plan or system of actions. However, unlike game theory, Hume does not assume that people have transparent access to the their own motivations and the inner structure of the social world. In contrast, he blends ideas such as cognitive delusion, learning by experience and coordination to construct a theory that still deserves careful discussion, even though it resists classification under contemporary headings. Keywords: Hume, justice, property, fictionalism, convention, contractarianism. 1. Introduction In the Treatise (Hume 1978; in the following cited as T followed by page num- bers) and the Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals (Hume 1983; cited as E followed by page numbers)1 Hume discusses the morality of justice by using a revolutionary method that displays the foundation of justice in social utility and the progression of mankind. -
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia Peter Vallentyne, University
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Missouri: MOspace Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia Peter Vallentyne, University of Missouri-Columbia in The Twentieth Century: Quine and After (Vol. 5, of Central Works of Philosophy ) edited by John Shand (Acumen Publishing, 2006), pp. 86-103 Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), along with John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice (1971), radically changed the landscape in analytic political philosophy. For much of the preceding half-century, under the influence of logical positivism’s heavy emphasis on empirical verifiability, much of moral philosophy was taken up with meta-ethics (e.g., the semantics of moral discourse)—with little attention given to normative moral theories. Moreover, to the extent that normative theories were considered, utilitarianism was the center of attention. This all changed with the publication of Rawls’s articulation and defense of liberal egalitarianism and Nozick’s libertarian challenge to the legitimacy of anything more than the night-watchman state. At the core of Nozick’s book are two arguments. One is that a night-watchman state (which protects only against violence, theft, fraud, and breach of contract) could be legitimate, even without the consent of all those to be governed. The other is that nothing more extensive than the night-watchman state is legitimate, except with the consent of all. The argument is complex, and Nozick often inserts long—and very interesting—digressions. Below I shall focus only on his core argument. I shall thus not address his discussions of Rawls’ theory of justice (Ch. -
Philosophers' Brief
CAPITAL CASE No. 18-6135 In the Supreme Court of the United States ________________ JAMES K. KAHLER, Petitioner, v. STATE OF KANSAS, Respondent. ________________ On Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Kansas ________________ Brief of Philosophy Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner ________________ EUGENE R. FIDELL (Counsel of Record) Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP 1129 20th St., N.W., 4th Fl. Washington, DC 20036 (202) 256-8675 [email protected] Counsel for Amici Curiae QUESTION PRESENTED Do the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments per- mit a State to abolish the insanity defense? i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Interest of the Amici ................................................. 1 Summary of Argument ............................................. 1 Argument .................................................................. 2 I. THE MENTAL STATE ELEMENTS OF CRIMES ARE INSUFFICIENT FOR RESPONSIBILITY .............................. 2 II. SANITY IS NECESSARY FOR RESPONS- IBILITY AND SO ESSENTIAL TO BOTH THE DETERRENT AND RETRIBUTIVE AIMS OF CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT ........ 6 III.PRINCIPLES OF TOLERATION DO NOT SUPPORT DEFERENCE TO STATES THAT CHOOSE TO PUNISH THE MENTALLY ILL ......................................... 12 Conclusion ............................................................... 14 Appendix (List of Amici Curiae) ............................. 1a iii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases: Durham v. United States, 214 F.2d 862 (D.C. Cir. 1954) .................................................... 14 Ford v. Wainwright, -
The Golden Cord
THE GOLDEN CORD A SHORT BOOK ON THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED ' " ' ..I ~·/ I _,., ' '4 ~ 'V . \ . " ': ,., .:._ C HARLE S TALIAFERR O THE GOLDEN CORD THE GOLDEN CORD A SHORT BOOK ON THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED CHARLES TALIAFERRO University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana Copyright © 2012 by the University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Taliaferro, Charles. The golden cord : a short book on the secular and the sacred / Charles Taliaferro. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-04238-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-04238-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. God (Christianity) 2. Life—Religious aspects—Christianity. 3. Self—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Redemption—Christianity. 5. Cambridge Platonism. I. Title. BT103.T35 2012 230—dc23 2012037000 ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 Love in the Physical World 15 CHAPTER 2 Selves and Bodies 41 CHAPTER 3 Some Big Pictures 61 CHAPTER 4 Some Real Appearances 81 CHAPTER 5 Is God Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know? 107 CHAPTER 6 Redemption and Time 131 CHAPTER 7 Eternity in Time 145 CHAPTER 8 Glory and the Hallowing of Domestic Virtue 163 Notes 179 Index 197 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful for the patience, graciousness, support, and encour- agement of the University of Notre Dame Press’s senior editor, Charles Van Hof. -
PETER VALLENTYNE (January 4, 2021)
PETER VALLENTYNE (January 4, 2021) Department of Philosophy Vallentynep at missouri dot edu University of Missouri Philosophy Dept.: (573) 882-2871 Columbia, MO 65211-4160 Fax: (573) 884-8949 PERSONAL Dual citizen of Canada and U.S.A. General proficiency in French, limited working proficiency in Italian and Spanish, elementary proficiency in modern Greek. EDUCATION Ph.D.: University of Pittsburgh, 1984. MA: University of Pittsburgh, 1981. BA: McGill University, 1978. Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (completion of professional exams), 1976. INSTRUCTIONAL POSITIONS Florence G. Kline Professor of Philosophy, University of Missouri: 2003- Visiting Professor, Xiamen University, China, summer school (2017) Visiting Professor, “Justice: Theory and Applications”, Summer University, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary (2011, 2013). Full Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University: 2000-2003 Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University: 1990-2000. Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University: 1988-1990. Assistant Professor, University of Western Ontario: 1984-1988. ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS AND EXPERIENCE Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy, U. Missouri (Fall 2018, Spring 2012, 2005- 2010) Director of Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy, U. Missouri (2012-14) Director, Philosophy, Virginia Commonwealth University: 1999-2000. Chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University: 1988-1999. Harvard Management Development Program (3 weeks): 1994. Administrative Associate to the President, Virginia Commonwealth University: Fall 1992 Actuarial Supervisor, Financial Forecasting Department, Great West Life Assurance Company: 1973-75. AWARDS AND GRANTS Faculty Award, University of Missouri-Columbia, Mizzou Alumni Association, 2019. Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2012-13. Liberty Fund contract ($44,500) for colloquium on liberty, self-ownership, and the right to property, 2002. Schalkenbach Foundation publication grant ($10,000 for research leave), 1999. -
Libertarianism Karl Widerquist, Georgetown University-Qatar
Georgetown University From the SelectedWorks of Karl Widerquist 2008 Libertarianism Karl Widerquist, Georgetown University-Qatar Available at: https://works.bepress.com/widerquist/8/ Libertarianism distinct ideologies using the same label. Yet, they have a few commonalities. [233] [V1b-Edit] [Karl Widerquist] [] [w6728] Libertarian socialism: Libertarian socialists The word “libertarian” in the sense of the believe that all authority (government or combination of the word “liberty” and the private, dictatorial or democratic) is suffix “-ian” literally means “of or about inherently dangerous and possibly tyrannical. freedom.” It is an antonym of “authoritarian,” Some endorse the motto: where there is and the simplest dictionary definition is one authority, there is no freedom. who advocates liberty (Simpson and Weiner Libertarian socialism is also known as 1989). But the name “libertarianism” has “anarchism,” “libertarian communism,” and been adopted by several very different “anarchist communism,” It has a variety of political movements. Property rights offshoots including “anarcho-syndicalism,” advocates have popularized the association of which stresses worker control of enterprises the term with their ideology in the United and was very influential in Latin American States and to a lesser extent in other English- and in Spain in the 1930s (Rocker 1989 speaking countries. But they only began [1938]; Woodcock 1962); “feminist using the term in 1955 (Russell 1955). Before anarchism,” which stresses person freedoms that, and in most of the rest of the world (Brown 1993); and “eco-anarchism” today, the term has been associated almost (Bookchin 1997), which stresses community exclusively with leftists groups advocating control of the local economy and gives egalitarian property rights or even the libertarian socialism connection with Green abolition of private property, such as and environmental movements. -
Some Worries About the Coherence of Left-Libertarianism Mathias Risse
John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Faculty Research Working Papers Series Can There be “Libertarianism without Inequality”? Some Worries About the Coherence of Left-Libertarianism Mathias Risse Nov 2003 RWP03-044 The views expressed in the KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the John F. Kennedy School of Government or Harvard University. All works posted here are owned and copyrighted by the author(s). Papers may be downloaded for personal use only. Can There be “Libertarianism without Inequality”? Some Worries About the Coherence of Left-Libertarianism1 Mathias Risse John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University October 25, 2003 1. Left-libertarianism is not a new star on the sky of political philosophy, but it was through the recent publication of Peter Vallentyne and Hillel Steiner’s anthologies that it became clearly visible as a contemporary movement with distinct historical roots. “Left- libertarian theories of justice,” says Vallentyne, “hold that agents are full self-owners and that natural resources are owned in some egalitarian manner. Unlike most versions of egalitarianism, left-libertarianism endorses full self-ownership, and thus places specific limits on what others may do to one’s person without one’s permission. Unlike right- libertarianism, it holds that natural resources may be privately appropriated only with the permission of, or with a significant payment to, the members of society. Like right- libertarianism, left-libertarianism holds that the basic rights of individuals are ownership rights. Left-libertarianism is promising because it coherently underwrites both some demands of material equality and some limits on the permissible means of promoting this equality” (Vallentyne and Steiner (2000a), p 1; emphasis added). -
3 the Case for Animal Rights: a Decade's Passing
3 THE CASE FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS: A DECADE’S PASSING During the academic year 1993-94 it was my h&or to serve as president of the American Society for Value Inquiry (ASVI). The duties of this office are blessedly few; none is onerous, and all have the active sup- port of the exceptional group of people who have made the society one of the jewels in philosophy’s crown. I am very grateful to the members of ASVI not only for the professional honor they bestowed on me but also for moti- vating me to answer some of the more important objections raised against my book The Case for Animal Rights, first published in 1983. The occasion to offer my answers was the society’s annual Presidential Address, which I presented on December 29,1993, in conjunction with the Eastern Division Meetings of the American Philosophical Association. Had it not been for the need to prepare something special for this event, I am not sure I would have taken up the issues I address in these pages. I certain- ly did not want to spend my life defending myself against the criticisms of others; like anyone with a glimmer of a creative spark, I wanted to explore new territory-new for me, in any event. I do not know whether I made a lasting contribution with the work I did during the decade after the publi- cation of The Case for Animal Rights, much of it devoted to interpreting the moral philosophy of the early twentieth-century English philosopher G. -
Political Libertarianism and Its Critics Distributive Justice, Rational
Political Libertarianism and its Critics Distributive Justice, Rational Choice, and Public Goods PHIL 3195 Fall Semester, 2009 Meetings: TF 1-2:15 pm Instructor: John Davenport Phone: 636-7928 Email: [email protected] Office: Rm. 921f; Mailbox: Rm 916 Office Hours : Tuesdays and Fridays 3 - 5:00 pm and a few Wednesdays by appointment. Thursdays I teach a graduate seminar at RH, and I'm at RH most Wednesdays for department meetings. Mondays I can be reached by email at home. Course Goals . This course is an interdisciplinary elective that critically explores a key tradition of 'neoconservative' political thought that has roots in classical economic theory and that has been very influential in American politics. Political libertarianism is a theory of social justice that gives primacy to an ideal of individual liberty deriving from Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and to belief in free-market systems that traces to Adam Smith. It advocates minimal government limits on inequalities resulting from voluntary exchanges and contracts, and maximum freedom for markets forces, and tries to base this on a moral conception of individual rights. While elements of this ideal were expressed by influential US reformers from Patrick Henry to Thoreau, its modern American form was established from the 1940s on in reaction against FDR =s New Deal, European socialism, and of course Communism. Through Ayn Rand's novels and the writings of economists like F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, arguments were developed against the rising welfare state, increasing health and safety regulations, entitlement programs and graduated taxation schemes. By the early 1980s, libertarian critiques of Abig government @ in general, including federal spending on projects and income taxation had become so influential that they strongly affected party platforms, and have been a major force in American politics ever since. -
Educational Rights and the Roles of Virtues, Perfectionism, and Cultural Progress
The Law of Education: Educational Rights and the Roles of Virtues, Perfectionism, and Cultural Progress R. GEORGE WRIGHT* I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 385 II. EDUCATION: PURPOSES, RECENT OUTCOMES, AND LEGAL MECHANISMS FOR REFORM ................................................................ 391 A. EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND RIGHTS LANGUAGE ...................... 391 B. SOME RECENT GROUNDS FOR CONCERN IN FULFILLING EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ............................................................. 393 C. THE BROAD RANGE OF AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR THE LEGAL REFORM OF EDUCATION ............................................................... 395 III. SOME LINKAGES BETWEEN EDUCATION AND THE BASIC VIRTUES, PERFECTIONISM, AND CULTURAL PROGRESS ..................................... 397 IV. VIRTUES AND THEIR LEGITIMATE PROMOTION THROUGH THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ...................................................................... 401 V. PERFECTIONISM AND ITS LEGITIMATE PROMOTION THROUGH THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ...................................................................... 410 VI. CULTURAL PROGRESS OVER TIME AND ITS LEGITIMATE PROMOTION THROUGH THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM .............................................. 417 VII. CONCLUSION: EDUCATION LAW AS RIGHTS-CENTERED AND AS THE PURSUIT OF WORTHY VALUES AND GOALS: THE EXAMPLE OF HORNE V. FLORES ............................................................................................ 431 I. INTRODUCTION The law of education -
Quong-Left-Libertarianism.Pdf
The Journal of Political Philosophy: Volume 19, Number 1, 2011, pp. 64–89 Symposium: Ownership and Self-ownership Left-Libertarianism: Rawlsian Not Luck Egalitarian Jonathan Quong Politics, University of Manchester HAT should a theory of justice look like? Any successful answer to this Wquestion must find a way of incorporating and reconciling two moral ideas. The first is a particular conception of individual freedom: because we are agents with plans and projects, we should be accorded a sphere of liberty to protect us from being used as mere means for others’ ends. The second moral idea is that of equality: we are moral equals and as such justice requires either that we receive equal shares of something—of whatever it is that should be used as the metric of distributive justice—or else requires that unequal distributions can be justified in a manner that is consistent with the moral equality of persons. These twin ideas—liberty and equality—are things which no sound conception of justice can properly ignore. Thus, like most political philosophers, I take it as given that the correct conception of justice will be some form of liberal egalitarianism. A deep and difficult challenge for all liberal egalitarians is to determine how the twin values of freedom and equality can be reconciled within a single theory of distributive justice. Of the many attempts to achieve this reconciliation, left-libertarianism is one of the most attractive and compelling. By combining the libertarian commitment to full (or nearly full) self-ownership with an egalitarian principle for the ownership of natural resources, left- libertarians offer an account of justice that appears firmly committed both to individual liberty, and to an egalitarian view of how opportunities or advantages must be distributed. -
Theories of Justice
Fall 2016 Theories of Justice Professor Pevnick ([email protected]) Office: 19 West 4th St., #326 Office Hours: Tuesday 9:30-11:30am or by appointment Course Description Political life is rife with conflict regarding issues of justice. This includes disputes regarding the legitimate role of government and the appropriate distribution of resources. Consider the following questions: • Is economic inequality unjust? Ever? Always? Why? • Is government justified in restricting your freedom if it does so in order to improve your life (by, say, banning large sodas, forcing you to wear a seatbelt, or making heroin illegal)? • Is it justifiable for the state to take the resources of wealthy citizens in order to benefit their poorer compatriots? Must the state do so in order to be legitimate? • How should a commitment to political equality guide attempts at campaign finance reform? • What are human rights? Where do they come from? Are they a culturally insensitive Western project? Since most of us hold views about the appropriate answers to such questions and believe that we can defend these views by providing reasons on their behalf, argument about questions of justice is an ordinary feature of political life. Political theory is, in two ways, the natural extension of such argument. First, by working such arguments out in more careful detail, political theorists hope to present stronger and more defensible versions of them—ones that can avoid the objections and errors to which our first inclinations may be vulnerable. Second, in answering such questions, we often rely on concepts – such as justice, rights, legitimacy, liberty, and equality – that can be understood in a wide variety of ways.