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26Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public PhilosophyPhilosophical Review 107 (1): 133. 1998.As its subtitle indicates, Democracy’s Discontent is a study of the political philosophies that have guided America’s public life. The “search” Michael Sandel describes has, in his view, temporarily come to a disappointing resolution in America’s acceptance of a liberal “public philosophy” that “cannot secure the liberty it promises” and has left Americans “discontented” with their “loss of self-government and the erosion of community”. This theme is unlikely to surprise readers familiar with Sa…Read more
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18Reasonable Expectations and Obligations: A Reply to PostowSouthern Journal of Philosophy 19 (1): 123-127. 1981.
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202Associative political obligationsEthics 106 (2): 247-273. 1996.It is claimed by philosophers as diverse as Burke, Walzer, Dworkin, and MacIntyre that our political obligations are best understood as "associative" or "communal" obligations--that is, as obligations that require neither voluntary undertaking nor justification by "external" moral principles, but rather as "local" moral responsibilities whose normative weight derives entirely from their assignment by social practice. This paper identifies three primary lines of argument that appear to support su…Read more
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6Part 2. consent and governmentIn On the Edge of Anarchy: Locke, Consent, and the Limits of Society, Princeton University Press. pp. 57-98. 1995.
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355Moral Principles and Political ObligationsPrinceton University Press. 1979.Every political theorist will need this book . . . . It is more 'important' than 90% of the work published in philosophy."--Joel Feinberg, University of Arizona.
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51The Limits of Lockean Rights in Property (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 58 (4): 997-999. 1998.
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146“Denisons” and “Aliens”: Locke's Problem of Political ConsentSocial Theory and Practice 24 (2): 161-182. 1998.Locke appears to be committed to the peculiar views that native-born residents and visiting aliens have the same political status (since both are tacit consenters) and that real political societies have very few "members" with full rights and duties (since only express consenters seem to be counted as "members"). Locke, however, also subscribes to a principle governing our understanding of the content of vague or inexplicit consent: such consent is consent to all and only that which is necessary…Read more
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3Part 3. the limits of societyIn On the Edge of Anarchy: Locke, Consent, and the Limits of Society, Princeton University Press. pp. 99-192. 1995.
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6Justification and Legitimacy: Essays on Rights and Obligations (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2000.A. John Simmons is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and creative of today's political philosophers. His work on political obligation is regarded as definitive and he is also internationally respected as an interpreter of John Locke. The characteristic features of clear argumentation and careful scholarship that have been hallmarks of his philosophy are everywhere evident in this collection. The essays focus on the problems of political obligation and state legitimacy as well as on h…Read more
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223Is There a Duty to Obey the Law?Cambridge University Press. 2005.The central question in political philosophy is whether political states have the right to coerce their constituents and whether citizens have a moral duty to obey the commands of their state. In this 2005 book, Christopher Heath Wellman and A. John Simmons defend opposing answers to this question. Wellman bases his argument on samaritan obligations to perform easy rescues, arguing that each of us has a moral duty to obey the law as his or her fair share of the communal samaritan chore of rescui…Read more
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123External justifications and institutional rolesJournal of Philosophy 93 (1): 28-36. 1996.In his paper "Role Obligations," Michael Hardimon defends an account of the nature and justification of institutional obligations that he takes to be clearly superior to the "standard" voluntarist view. Hardimon argues that this standard view presents a "misleading and distorted" picture of role obligations (and of morality generally); and in its best form he claims this view still "leaves out" of its understanding of even contractual role obligations an "absolutely vital factor". I argue agains…Read more
Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Law |
Value Theory |
Areas of Interest
History of Western Philosophy |