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Politics. MacIntyre on modernity and how it has marginalized the virtuesIn Roger Crisp (ed.), How Should One Live?: Essays on the Virtues, Oxford University Press. 1996.
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2Community, Solidarity and Belonging: Levels of Community and Their Normative SignificanceCambridge University Press. 2000.Despite the frequency with which the term 'community' is used, it is hard to find any comprehensive exploration of the nature and value of community. This book tries to remedy this omission whilst taking seriously the idea that community can be of different kinds and can exist at different levels, and that these levels and kinds may come into conflict with one another. It focuses on the question of what kind of community is valuable at the level of the state. It then explores the limits that ide…Read more
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22Ideals of Equality (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 1998.What is equality and is it a genuine political ideal? The contributors address this question in a variety of different ways, and in the course of doing so they contrast a number of different notions of equality, and distinguish equality from the related idea of giving priority to the worst off
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78Political community, liberal‐nationalism, and the ethics of assimilationEthics 109 (2): 261-286. 1999.
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40Liberalism and the Value of CommunityCanadian Journal of Philosophy 23 (2). 1993.Over the past decade or so the term ‘communitarianism’ has been applied to a wide range of positions with great variation between them. This is not in itself an objection to its continued use, for a concept may be coherent and illuminating even though it shelters considerable diversity. What is troubling about the body of literature now labelled as communitarian is that it frequently appeals to images of community without giving the notion the analytical attention it deserves and that we have co…Read more
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152Egalitarianism and the levelling down objectionAnalysis 61 (3). 2001.In an important piece of work Derek Parfit distinguishes two different forms of egalitarianism, ‘Deontic’ and ‘Telic’. He contrasts these with what he calls the Priority View, which is not strictly a form of egalitarianism at all, since it is not essentially concerned with how well off people are relative to each other. His main aim is to generate an adequate taxonomy of the positions available, but in the process he draws attention to some of the different problems they face. I shall argue that…Read more
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52XI: Equality, personal responsibility, and gender socialisationProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100 (3). 2000.A number of egalitarians have reached the conclusion that inequalities are just provided that they are the outcome of holding people appropriately responsible for their choices, and that only inequalities which can be traced back to the circumstances in which people happen to find themselves are objectionable. But this form of egalitarianism needs to be supplemented with an account of when it is appropriate to hold people responsible for their choices that is properly sensitive to the profound e…Read more
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14XI: Equality, Personal Responsibility, and Gender SocialisationProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100 (3): 227-246. 2000.A number of egalitarians have reached the conclusion that inequalities are just provided that they are the outcome of holding people appropriately responsible for their choices, and that only inequalities which can be traced back to the circumstances in which people happen to find themselves are objectionable. But this form of egalitarianism needs to be supplemented with an account of when it is appropriate to hold people responsible for their choices that is properly sensitive to the profound e…Read more
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80On explaining political disagreement: The notion of an essentially contested conceptInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 33 (1). 1990.Although the notion of an essentially contested concept may shed light on the logic of disputes over the proper application of some key political terms, it nevertheless plays no genuine role in explaining the intractability of these disputes. The notion of an essentially contested concept is defended against some influential criticisms, showing how it is possible for one conception of an essentially contested concept to be justifiably regarded as superior to other competing conceptions. Two poss…Read more
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27Imposing liberal principlesCritical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 1 (3): 98-116. 1998.(1998). Imposing liberal principles. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: Vol. 1, Pluralsim and Liberal Neutrality, pp. 98-116.
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74Justice, Contestability, and Conceptions of the GoodUtilitas 8 (3): 295-305. 1996.Brian Barry's Justice as Impartiality is a highly enjoyable and rewarding book. It throws new light on some familiar theories of justice, and shows how the idea that principles of justice are those principles which no one could reasonably reject can yield prescriptions for constitutional design. But I shall argue that Barry's defence of his theory is less robust than he thinks, and more generally that there is reason to suppose that principles of justice are as contestable as conceptions of the …Read more
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32Explaining political disagreementCambridge University Press. 1993.This book examines a number of different accounts developed by philosophers and political theorists to explain why political disagreement is so extensive and persistent. The author argues that moral and political questions can have correct answers, but that not every reasonable person will necessarily be satisfied with these answers. He develops a framework that gives a role to the individual's reasons for his or her beliefs, but also to psychological and sociological factors, to explain the int…Read more
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68What’s wrong with everyday lookism?Politics, Philosophy and Economics 20 (3): 315-335. 2021.Everyday lookism, by which I mean the widespread practice of commenting upon and judging the appearance of others, is often regarded as morally troubling. But when, and why, is it morally problemat...
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21Introduction: Democratic citizenship and its futuresCritical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 14 (5): 553-560. 2011.No abstract
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40Appearance, Discrimination, and Reaction QualificationsJournal of Political Philosophy 25 (1): 48-71. 2016.
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21Living Together as Equals: The Demands of CitizenshipOxford University Press. 2012.There is considerable debate about the demands citizenship places upon us in our everyday lives. Living Together as Equals distinguishes two different ways of thinking about citizenship both of which shed some light on the demands that it makes upon us
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76Levelling the Playing Field: The Idea of Equal Opportunity and its Place in Egalitarian ThoughtOxford University Press. 2006."Equality of opportunity for all" is a fine piece of political rhetoric but the ideal that lies behind it is slippery to say the least. This book defends a particular account of the ideal and its place in a more radical version of what it is to level the playing field.
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108Citizenship and justicePolitics, Philosophy and Economics 10 (3): 263-281. 2011.Are the rights, duties, and virtues of citizenship grounded exclusively in considerations of justice, or do some or all of them have other sources? This question is addressed by distinguishing three different accounts of the justification of these rights, duties, and virtues, namely, the justice account, the common-good account, and the equal-membership account. The common-good account is rejected on the grounds that it provides an implausible way of understanding what it is to act as a citizen.…Read more
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52Rawlsian Theory and the Circumstances of PoliticsPolitical Theory 38 (5): 658-683. 2010.Can Rawlsian theory provide us with an adequate response to the practical question of how we should proceed in the face of widespread and intractable disagreement over matters of justice? Recent criticism of ideal theorizing might make us wonder whether this question highlights another way in which ideal theory can be too far removed from our non-ideal circumstances to provide any practical guidance. Further reflection on it does not show that ideal theory is redundant, but it does indicate that…Read more
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42The critique of multiculturalism in Britain: integration, separation and shared identificationCritical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 21 (1): 22-45. 2018.
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127What Is the Point of Justice?Utilitas 24 (4): 525-547. 2012.Conflicting answers to the question of what principles of justice are for may generate very different ways of theorizing about justice. Indeed divergent answers to it are at the heart of G. A. Cohen's disagreement with John Rawls. Cohen thinks that the roots of this disagreement lie in the constructivist method that Rawls employs, which mistakenly treats the principles that emerge from a procedure that involves factual assumptions as ultimate principles of justice. But I argue that even if Rawls…Read more
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Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Law |