Social PhilosophyM.E. Sharpe, 1999 M03 26 This short and accessible introductory text discusses how people in a pluralistic society such as ours can accept a common social ethic--a publicly justified morality. It presents clear analyses of the basic concepts, including justifications of liberty, harm to others, private property rights, distributive justice, environmental harms, help to others and offensive behavior. Gaus acquaints the reader with the major figures in social philosophy--John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, John Rawls, David Gauthier, and Joel Feinberg--as well as recent communitarian philosophers. The basic technical aspects of social philosophy are also introduced: game theory, social choice theory, the ideas rational action, rational bargaining, and public goods. Throughout, helpful short examples and stories are used to illustrate the material. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 44
Page 3
... tells him that he is wasting his life . Betty tries to show Alf that he should cultivate other interests and improve himself . A life of mindless pleasures , she tells him , is just not good enough . In reply , Alf insists that he is ...
... tells him that he is wasting his life . Betty tries to show Alf that he should cultivate other interests and improve himself . A life of mindless pleasures , she tells him , is just not good enough . In reply , Alf insists that he is ...
Page 4
... telling Betty to mind her own business in Betty's Value Judgment , it seems that he misses the point of Charlie's Moral Judgment when he tells Charlie to mind his own business . Charlie is not simply sharing his judgment that Alf would ...
... telling Betty to mind her own business in Betty's Value Judgment , it seems that he misses the point of Charlie's Moral Judgment when he tells Charlie to mind his own business . Charlie is not simply sharing his judgment that Alf would ...
Page 6
... tells him to . Charlie is claiming moral authority over Alf ; that is , Charlie is claiming to override Alf s judgment about what Alf is free to do with Doris's wallet and substitute his own judgment that Alf is not free to take the ...
... tells him to . Charlie is claiming moral authority over Alf ; that is , Charlie is claiming to override Alf s judgment about what Alf is free to do with Doris's wallet and substitute his own judgment that Alf is not free to take the ...
Page 7
... telling others the best way to go about their affairs . She is claiming that others are not at liberty to act ... tell her what she cannot do . But if he cannot justify his command or his special right to decide , his insistence that she ...
... telling others the best way to go about their affairs . She is claiming that others are not at liberty to act ... tell her what she cannot do . But if he cannot justify his command or his special right to decide , his insistence that she ...
Page 8
... tells them when they must defer to him , and so when they are not free to act on their own decisions . Yet he cannot provide good grounds for this special posi- tion he awards himself . He simply dismisses the conflicting judgments of ...
... tells them when they must defer to him , and so when they are not free to act on their own decisions . Yet he cannot provide good grounds for this special posi- tion he awards himself . He simply dismisses the conflicting judgments of ...
Contents
3 | |
6 | |
9 | |
14 Public Morality and Cooperation | 16 |
15 Summary | 17 |
Public Justification | 19 |
22 Actual Assent Views of Public Justification | 20 |
23 Justification Among Purely Rational People | 21 |
62 Two Key Criticisms of Rawlss Contractual Theory | 101 |
63 Liberal Contractualism | 106 |
64 Summary | 113 |
A Framework for Public Morality | 115 |
Liberty | 117 |
72 Mills Case for Liberty of Action | 122 |
73 Autonomy | 128 |
74 Summary | 135 |
24 Public Justification and Reasonableness | 23 |
25 Consensus and Convergence Justifications | 27 |
Valuepromoting Public Moralities | 29 |
32 Competing Values and Public Justification | 32 |
Wide Consensus on Basic Goods | 35 |
Communitarianism | 39 |
35 Summary | 46 |
Utilitarianism as a Public Morality | 47 |
42 Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism | 48 |
43 Wantsatisfaction Utilitarianism | 50 |
44 The Problems of Interpersonal Comparisons and Aggregating Preferences | 54 |
45 Is Value Impersonal? | 58 |
46 Nonteleological Utilitarianism | 60 |
47 Utilitarianism as a Public Philosophy | 63 |
48 Summary | 67 |
Strong Contractualism | 69 |
52 Simple NeoHobbesianism | 73 |
53 Gauthiers Reformulation of Hobbesian Moral Contractualism | 83 |
54 Is Strong Contractualism Really About Social Morality? | 87 |
55 Summary | 90 |
Weak Contractualism | 92 |
The Harm Principle | 136 |
82 Psychological Harms | 140 |
83 Is It Always a Harm to Set Back an Interest? | 144 |
84 Risk of Harm | 151 |
85 Harmful Acts and Omissions | 154 |
86 Summary | 158 |
Property | 160 |
92 Lockean Theory and the Proviso | 163 |
Compensation for Losses | 167 |
94 Desert Distributive Justice and Property | 172 |
95 Summary | 177 |
Public Harms and Common Goods | 179 |
102 The Public Goods Principle | 187 |
103 Common Goods | 191 |
104 Summary | 195 |
Two QuasiMillian Principles | 197 |
112 Paternalism | 199 |
113 Offense | 210 |
114 Summary | 218 |
Notes | 221 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
According action agree Alf's argued argument authoritarian autonomy avoid basic benefits Bentham Betty Betty's chap Chapter Charlie choice choose claim common conception condition Consider contractors contractualist cooperation David Gauthier David Hume desert disagreement fair Feinberg freedom Gauthier goal pursuers goal-pursuing moral persons harmful act Hobbes Hobbesian human Ibid individuals insist Joel Feinberg John Rawls John Stuart Mill liberal liberty limiting lives maximin maximize Mill Mill's nature neo-Hobbesian Offensive Nuisance Principle one's option Oxford pain paternalism personal ideals pleasure Pool Lounger preferences prisoner's dilemma problem prohibit property rights Proviso Public Harm Principle public justification public morality publicly justified rational Rawls Rawls's Rawlsian reasonable goal-pursuing moral reasonable pluralism regulative interests reject relativism requires Robert Nozick rule seeks seems set back simply social contract social morality social philosophy society someone steal Suppose teleological teleological argument theory things tion utilitarian veil of ignorance wants welfare interests wrong X-ing
Popular passages
Page 48 - Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.
Page 3 - It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides.
Page 99 - Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all.
Page 142 - There are many who consider as an injury to themselves any conduct which they have a distaste for, and resent it as an outrage to their feelings; as a religious bigot, when charged with disregarding the religious feelings of others, has been known to retort that they disregard his feelings, by persisting in their abominable worship or creed.
Page 14 - In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor,...
Page 200 - But the strongest of all the arguments against the interference of the public with purely personal conduct is that, when it does interfere, the odds are that it interferes wrongly and in the wrong place.
Page 10 - ... half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it.