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101Invisible Hand Arguments: Milton Friedman and Adam SmithJournal of Scottish Philosophy 5 (2): 103-117. 2007.The version of the invisible hand argument in Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments differs in important respects from the version in The Wealth of Nations. Both are different, in turn, from the version invoked by Milton Friedman in Free to Choose. However, all three have a common structure. Attention to this structure can help sharpen our sense of their essential thrust by highlighting the questions (about the nature of economic motivation, the structure of markets, and conceptions of the pub…Read more
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91G. A. Cohen on the Rawlsian Doctrine of the Basic Structure as SubjectSocial Philosophy Today 26 153-163. 2010.In his recent book Rescuing Justice and Equality (Harvard University Press, 2008), G. A. Cohen returns to the defense of his critique of the Rawlsian doctrine of the “basic structure as subject.” This doctrine provides the centerpiece of what Rawls has to say about the domain of distributive justice—that is, about the sorts of things judgments of distributive justice are about and about the ways in which these judgments are interconnected. From the extensiveness of Cohen’s critique of this doctr…Read more
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56Universal Human Rights and Cultural DiversitySocial Philosophy Today 24 13-26. 2008.I argue that a reasonably comprehensive doctrine of human rights can be reconciled with at least a good deal of diversity in cultural belief and practice. The reconciliation cannot be achieved by trying to show that there is in fact a cross-cultural consensus about the existence of human rights, partly because no valid inference to the normative status of human rights can be drawn from the existence of such a consensus. However, by highlighting the premises rather than the conclusions of normati…Read more
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46The Right to Vote, Democracy, and the Electoral SystemSocial Philosophy Today 21 111-124. 2005.Under the first-past-the-post electoral system that is still deeply entrenched in such democracies as Canada and the United States, it is not at all uncommon in a provincial, state, or federal election for there to be a striking lack of correspondence between the share of the seats a political party is able to win and its share of the popular vote. From the standpoint of the democratic ideal what is morally unacceptable about this system is that the right to vote it confers on members of the ele…Read more
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42Rule-Utilitarianism and Hume's Theory of JusticeHume Studies 7 (1): 74-84. 1981.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:74. RULE-UTILITARIANISM AND HUME'S THEORY OF JUSTICE One of the striking features of Hume's theory of justice is the narrowness of the range of judgments it is designed to illumine. For Hume the paradigms of judgments of justice are judgments about particular actions, not judgments about laws or institutions or states of affairs. Moreover, the characterization of actions as just or unjust is possible according to Hume only in a certa…Read more
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41Human Dignity, Individual Liberty, And the Free Market IdealSocial Philosophy Today 16 113-123. 2000.Taking for granted that there is a strong connection between respect far human dignity and endorsement of institutional arrangements that protect individual liberty, I ask whether this can be cited in support of a free market approach to the organization of the economy. The answer, it might seem, must be Yes. Prominent defenders of a free market system commonly assume that an important part of the rationale for the free market is that it protects individual liberty. Appearances are misleading, h…Read more
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39Rights and Recognition: The Case of Human RightsJournal of Social Philosophy 44 (1): 51-73. 2013.
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36Freedom And The Role Of The State: Libertarianism vs. LiberalismSocial Philosophy Today 18 139-150. 2002.According to Libertarians, the freedom of individuals to make crucial lifeshaping choices is effectively and adequately protected if other individuals and agenciesrefrain from interfering with their freedom and if the state takes steps to ensure that such interference is either prevented or punished. This paper presents a “Liberal” critique of this position, in three stages. First, prevention of interference is only one of several conditions that must be fulfilled if an individual’s lot in life …Read more
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32Political Theory and Public PolicyUniversity of Chicago Press. 1982.Some say that public policy can be made without the benefit of theory--that it emerges, instead, through trial-and-error. Others see genuine philosophical issues in public affairs but try to resolve them through fanciful examples. Both, argues Robert E. Goodin, are wrong. Goodin--a political scientist who is also an associate editor of Ethics--shows that empirical and ethical theory can and should guide policy. To be useful, however, these philosophical discussions of public affairs must draw up…Read more
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32G. A. Cohen on the Rawlsian Doctrine of the Basic Structure as SubjectSocial Philosophy Today 26 153-163. 2010.In his recent book Rescuing Justice and Equality (Harvard University Press, 2008), G. A. Cohen returns to the defense of his critique of the Rawlsian doctrine of the “basic structure as subject.” This doctrine provides the centerpiece of what Rawls has to say about the domain of distributive justice—that is, about the sorts of things judgments of distributive justice are about and about the ways in which these judgments are interconnected. From the extensiveness of Cohen’s critique of this doctr…Read more
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32Amartya Sen on human rights in The Idea of JusticePhilosophy and Social Criticism 41 (1): 11-19. 2015.In section I, I identify several mini-theses embedded in Amartya Sen’s theory of human rights – such theses as that human rights are moral, not legal, rights, that nevertheless they are not rights that are awaiting transformation into legal rights, that an expansive doctrine of human rights can incorporate a broad swath of rights without merely mimicking the catalogues in post-Second World War declarations and covenants, and that not all the obligations generated by human rights are ‘perfect’ ob…Read more
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31Moral Permissibility Constraints on Voluntary ObligationsJournal of Social Philosophy 43 (2): 125-139. 2012.
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29The Voluntary Transactions Principle and the Free Market IdealSocial Philosophy Today 27 31-46. 2011.
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28Terrorism and the Root Causes ArgumentSocial Philosophy Today 20 97-108. 2004.Without attempting a full-scale definition of “terrorism,” I assume (for the purposes of the argument of the paper) (1) that terrorist acts are politically motivated, (2) that the political goals of terrorists are both diverse and (morally) a “mixed bag,” (3) that terrorist acts inflict deliberate harm on innocent civilians, and (4) that they are therefore to be condemned even when the goals they ostensibly serve are defensible goals. The various versions of the “root causes” argument seek to ex…Read more
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27Promises and Promissory Obligations [or When Is There No Obligation to Keep a Promise?]Journal of Social Philosophy 50 (4): 577-596. 2019.Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.
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27Hayek on Justice and the Market: A Rejoinder to Cragg and MackCanadian Journal of Philosophy 13 (4). 1983.Professor Cragg objects to my contention that when judgments about the justice of actions can be paired with judgments about the justice of the states of affairs in which they eventuate it is the latter and not the former which are logically fundamental. He concedes that the justice of actions cannot, in these circumstances, be determined wholly independently of the justice of the states of affairs they help bring about — ‘ … how could an action be evaluated as Just or unjust in the absence of a…Read more
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24Justice and the MarketCanadian Journal of Philosophy 13 (4). 1983.Direct comparison of the ostensibly competing principles embedded in rival theories of Justice is often complicated by differences of view as to the nature and scope of the concrete Judgments a theory of Justice must attempt to illumine. Aristotle's official view, for example, is that Justice is a disposition or character trait. This commits him to scrutiny of Judgments about the Justice of particular actions since it is actions which serve to reveal, and to help form, the disposition in questio…Read more
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23Globalization, markets, and the ideal of economic freedomJournal of Social Philosophy 36 (2). 2005.
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22Rawls' Theory of JusticeDialogue 13 (1): 139-159. 1974.Rawls' main aim in A Theory of Justice is to provide a viable alternative to the utilitarianism which has dominated so much modern moral philosophy. Although philosophers have long recognised the difficulties in the way of acceptance of a utilitarian account of judgments of justice, they have often responded by seeking merely to reformulate the principle of utility. Other philosophers, with a juster appreciation of the seriousness of these difficulties, have been prepared to reject utilitarianis…Read more
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20The Right to Vote, Democracy, and the Electoral SystemSocial Philosophy Today 21 111-124. 2005.Under the first-past-the-post electoral system that is still deeply entrenched in such democracies as Canada and the United States, it is not at all uncommon in a provincial, state, or federal election for there to be a striking lack of correspondence between the share of the seats a political party is able to win and its share of the popular vote. From the standpoint of the democratic ideal what is morally unacceptable about this system is that the right to vote it confers on members of the ele…Read more
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20Free markets and democracy: Clashing ideals in a globalizing world?Journal of Social Philosophy 37 (1). 2006.
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18The Voluntary Transactions Principle and the Free Market IdealSocial Philosophy Today 27 31-46. 2011.
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17Freedom And The Role Of The State: Libertarianism vs. LiberalismSocial Philosophy Today 18 139-150. 2002.According to Libertarians, the freedom of individuals to make crucial lifeshaping choices is effectively and adequately protected if other individuals and agenciesrefrain from interfering with their freedom and if the state takes steps to ensure that such interference is either prevented or punished. This paper presents a “Liberal” critique of this position, in three stages. First, prevention of interference is only one of several conditions that must be fulfilled if an individual’s lot in life …Read more
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16Book Review:Political Theory and Public Policy. Robert E. Goodin (review)Ethics 95 (1): 157-. 1984.
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