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155Rawlsian JusticeIn Paul Anand, Prastanta Pattanaik & Clemens Puppe (eds.), Handbook of Rational and Social Choice, Oxford University Press. pp. 433--456. 2009.Rawls’ theory of justice builds on the social contract tradition to offer an alternative to utilitarianism. Rawls singles out justice – not maximum welfare or efficiency – as “the first virtue of social institutions”. Economists were quick to realize the relevance of Rawls’ theory of justice for economics. Early contributions in welfare economics and social choice theory typically attempted to incorporate Rawls’ ideas into a welfarist framework. Current research in normative economics comes clos…Read more
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41Justice: Political Not NaturalAnalyse & Kritik 28 (1): 83-88. 2006.Ken Binmore casts his naturalist theory of justice in opposition to theories of justice that claim authority on the grounds of some religious or moral doctrine. He thereby overlooks the possibility of a political conception of justice−a theory of justice based on the premise that there is an irreducible pluralism of metaphysical, epistemological, and moral doctrines. In my brief comment I shall argue that the naturalist theory of justice advocated by Binmore should be conceived of as belonging t…Read more
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1685Choice, consent, and the legitimacy of market transactionsEconomics and Philosophy 20 (1): 1-18. 2004.According to an often repeated definition, economics is the science of individual choices and their consequences. The emphasis on choice is often used – implicitly or explicitly – to mark a contrast between markets and the state: While the price mechanism in well-functioning markets preserves freedom of choice and still efficiently coordinates individual actions, the state has to rely to some degree on coercion to coordinate individual actions. Since coercion should not be used arbitrarily, coor…Read more
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211The human right to political participationJournal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 7 (2): 1-16. 2013.In recent developments in political and legal philosophy, there is a tendency to endorse minimalist lists of human rights which do not include a right to political participation. Against such tendencies, I shall argue that the right to political participation, understood as distinct from a right to democracy, should have a place even on minimalist lists. In addition, I shall defend the need to extend the right to political participation to include participation not just in national, but also in …Read more
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54Rationality and commitment (edited book)Oxford University Press USA. 2007.The volume concludes with a specially-written reply by Sen, in which he responds to his critics and provides a rich commentary on the preceding essays.
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48Democracy or decision-making by experts?Forum for European Philosophy Blog. 2015.Fabienne Peter on whether difficult political decisions should be made by experts.
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1562Epistemic Foundations of Political LiberalismJournal of Moral Philosophy 10 (5): 598-620. 2013.At the core of political liberalism is the claim that political institutions must be publicly justified or justifiable to be legitimate. What explains the significance of public justification? The main argument that defenders of political liberalism present is an argument from disagreement: the irreducible pluralism that is characteristic of democratic societies requires a mode of justification that lies in between a narrowly political solution based on actual acceptance and a traditional moral …Read more
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33Rules, Norms, and CommitmentIn Jarvie, Ian & Jesus Zamora-Bonilla (eds.), Handbook of Philosophy of Social Sciences, Sage Publications. pp. 216--232. 2011.
Areas of Specialization
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Social and Political Philosophy |
Government and Democracy |
Practical Reason |
Meta-Ethics |
Epistemology |
Social Epistemology |
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
Epistemology |
Meta-Ethics |
Philosophy of Law |