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363Population and Having Children NowJournal of Practical Ethics 5 (2): 49-61. 2017.This paper aims to state the obvious – the commonsense, rational approach to child-producing. We have no general obligation to promote either the “general happiness” or the equalization of this and that. We have children if we want them, if their life prospects are decent – and if we can afford them, which is a considerable part of their life prospects being OK – and provided that in doing so we do not inflict injury on others. It’s extremely difficult to do this latter, but affording them, in r…Read more
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842Resolving the Debate on Libertarianism and AbortionLibertarian Papers 8 267-272. 2016.I take issue with the view that libertarian theory does not imply any particular stand on abortion. Liberty is the absence of interference with people’s wills—interests, wishes, and desires. Only entities that have such are eligible for the direct rights of libertarian theory. Foetuses do not; and if aborted, there is then no future person whose rights are violated. Hence the “liberal” view of abortion: women (especially) may decide whether to bear the children they have conceived. Birth is a go…Read more
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46Internal/ExternalInternational Journal of Applied Philosophy 23 (1): 125-132. 2009.Where does domestic policy leave off and foreign policy begin? I point out that many domestic policies have major repercussions forother countries, some of them of a kind that are conducive to violence if not outright warfare. My examples are the drug laws, which create huge incentives for foreign criminals as well as domestic ones; concerns about “global warming” which are likely to impoverish many poor countries or prevent them from advancing; and the penchant for extensive government interven…Read more
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33Moral Matters - Second EditionBroadview Press. 1999._Moral Matters_ is a concise and accessible look at such ethical issues as euthanasia, animal rights, abortion, and pornography. It provides a focused set of views from the unified perspective of one of North America’s leading libertarian thinkers, and aims to provoke thought and discussion as well as to enrich understanding. For the new edition the text has been revised throughout, the introduction has been greatly expanded, and a new chapter on environmental issues has been added.
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4That old‐time religion: Reply to HerzogCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 5 (4): 573-582. 1991.
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6McDonald and McDougal, Pride and Gain, and Justice: Comment on a Criticism of GauthierDialogue 27 (3): 503-. 1988.David Gauthier's impressive new book, Morals by Agreement, attempts to resuscitate something like Lockean natural rights on an essentially Hobbesian basis—a project eminently worth doing, if it can be done. Hubin and Lambeth offer some interesting criticisms of his project, and as they also raise some fundamental questions about the character and derivation of rights, it is important to see whether those criticisms hold up. I wish to comment on the one I think to be most crucial.
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19A Theory of the Good and the Right (review)International Studies in Philosophy 12 (1): 107-108. 1980.
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20Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (review)Canadian Journal of Philosophy 17 (1): 227-234. 1987.
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2Are Liberty and Equality Compatible?Cambridge University Press. 2010.Are the political ideals of liberty and equality compatible? This question is of central and continuing importance in political philosophy, moral philosophy, and welfare economics. In this book, two distinguished philosophers take up the debate. Jan Narveson argues that a political ideal of negative liberty is incompatible with any substantive ideal of equality, while James P. Sterba argues that Narveson's own ideal of negative liberty is compatible, and in fact leads to the requirements of a su…Read more
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20Professor Heath’s CanadaDialogue 42 (2): 363-. 2003.Professor Heath’s thesis that Canada is “The Efficient Society” has shock value. In contemplating our country, the image of efficiency is not the first one that comes to mind. But in this engagingly—indeed, breezily—written book, that is just what we are told. The claim is that we have discovered the virtues of good government, and other more hapless places such as the United States, have not. Contrary to what we might suppose, government is efficient! The idea certainly tickles the intellect, a…Read more
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11Shopping‐mall liberalism: Reply to LegutkoCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 5 (1): 129-134. 1991.No abstract
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58The agreement to keep our agreements: Hume, Prichard, and SearlePhilosophical Papers 23 (2): 75-87. 1994.Does it make sense, and is it at all plausible, to view the moral obligation to keep particular promises and do what is called for by particular agreements such as contracts as being founded on a general "Social Contract" -- i.e., to give a contractarian account of promise-keeping? This paper argues that it does. Borrowing from Hume, David Lewis, Gilbert Harman, and David Gauthier, I provide a sketch of what the "social contract" is (not, e.g., either a real or a hypothetical meeting of all with…Read more
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30We Don’t Owe Them a Thing!The Monist 86 (3): 419-433. 2003.The discovery that people far away are in bad shape seems to generate a sense of guilt on the part of many articulate people in our part of the world, even though they are no worse off now that we’ve heard about them than they had been before. I will take it as given that we are certainly responsible for evils we inflict on others, no matter where, and that we owe those people compensation. Not all similarly agree that it is not in general our duty to make other people better off, and therefore …Read more
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19Bastiat's great contribution to economics, in his own view, was his identification of service as the source of economic value. What is anything worth to anybody? In the cases where we are not dealing with what our fellow men do for us, the answer is to be found in its utility - how much the thing contributes to our satisfaction. In the case where we deal with our fellows, we are interested specifically in what they can do for us, that is, how much service they can render us - how much they can o…Read more
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188Cohen’s RescueThe Journal of Ethics 14 (3-4): 263-334. 2010.G. A. Cohen's Rescuing Justice and Equality proposes that both concepts need rescuing from the work of John Rawls. Especially, it is concerned with Rawls' famous second principle of justice according to which social primary goods should be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution is to the benefit of the worst off. The question is why this would ever be necessary if all parties are just. Cohen and I agree that Rawls cannot really justify inequalities on the basis given. But he also thi…Read more
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27Gewirth's Reason and Morality – A Study in the Hazards of Universalizability in EthicsDialogue 19 (4): 651-674. 1980.
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20Moral issues (edited book)Oxford University Press. 1983.Though this moderately-priced anthology dates back to 1983, its lively articles are as relevant as ever. Topics covered include suicide, euthanasia, war, punishment,world hunger, abortion, sexual relations, equality, affirmative action, and future generations.
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20Communication and Human Good: The Twentieth Century's Main AchievementSocial Philosophy Today 17 91-102. 2001.The invention of computers, and especially their communication capabilities is revolutionary in several ways. They show the paramount importance of communication in human life, as well as facilitating revolutionary improvements in virtually all areas of social life: business, the arts, agriculture, and others. They put in perspective the erroneous outlook of "materialism" -the idea that human well-being is a matter of accumulating material objects, with a corollary that we must be using up the m…Read more
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University of WaterlooDepartment of Philosophy
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Value Theory |