•  31
    John Rawls is regarded as the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century. His seminal work, _A Theory of Justice_, transformed the study of political philosophy and shaped the political thought of a generation. _Rawls on Justice_ demystifies this difficult text by introducing and assessing: Rawls’ life and the background to his philosophy The key concepts of _A Theory of Justice_, including the ‘orginal position’, the ‘veil of ignorance’, and the two principles of justice Rawl…Read more
  •  23
    Faut-il abandonner la position originelle?
    Les Etudes Philosophiques 145 (2): 69-86. 2023.
    La position originelle a une élégance et un attrait qui vont au-delà de la plupart des figures philosophiques. Il s’agit peut-être de l’aspect de la théorie rawlsienne qui ait le plus fasciné les lecteurs de Théorie de la justice. Bien que très étudiée, réinterprétée et critiquée, la position originelle est souvent présentée de façon erronée. En particulier, la méthode de raisonnement de John Rawls derrière le voile d’ignorance est souvent comprise comme si les conclusions qu’elle induit se situ…Read more
  •  49
    Family and Marriage: Institutions and the Need for Social Goods
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 97 (1): 221-247. 2023.
    Institutions, if unjust, ought to be reformed or even abolished. This radical Rawlsian thought leads to the question of whether the family ought to be abolished, given its negative impact on the very possibility of delivering equality of life chances. In this article, we address questions regarding the justice of the family, and of marriage, and reflect on rights, equality, and the provision of social goods by institutions. There is a temptation to justify our social institutions in terms which …Read more
  •  64
    Puzzles of Regret
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 92 (3): 778-784. 2016.
  •  38
    Fellow Feelings: Fraternity, Equality and the Origin and Stability of Justice
    Daimon: Revista Internacional de Filosofía 107-123. forthcoming.
    This article presents an analysis of the role that the idea of fraternity plays in John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice. Many commentators, G.A. Cohen for example, have taken as their target the role of fraternity in understanding the difference principle. The article highlights the neglected connection between Rawls’s principle of fraternity and the role of sentiments in A Theory of Justice. I focus, in particular, on the third part of A Theory of Justice, which has received less attention in the s…Read more
  •  35
    Viii *-the distribution of numbers and the comprehensiveness of reasons1
    Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 105 (1): 191-217. 2005.
  •  28
    Viii*-the Distribution of Numbers and the Comprehensiveness of Reasons1
    Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 105 (2): 207-233. 2005.
    In this paper, I concentrate on two themes: to what extent numbers bear on an agent's duties, and how numbers should relate to social policy. In the first half of the paper I consider the abstract case of a choice between saving two people and saving one, and my focus is on the contrast between a duty to act and a reason which merely makes an action intelligible. In the second half, I turn to the issue of social policy and investigate how if at all numbers can have a bearing there, if there is n…Read more
  •  116
    The Division of Moral Labour
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 79 (1): 229-284. 2005.
    [ Samuel Scheffler] Some egalitarian liberals have proposed a division of moral labour between social institutions and individual agents, but the division-of-labour metaphor has been understood in different ways. This paper aims to disentangle some of these different understandings, with an eye to clarifying the appeal of the egalitarian-liberal project and the challenges that it faces. The idea of a division of moral labour is best understood as the expression of a strategy for accommodating di…Read more
  •  28
    John Rawls, Justice in and Justice of the Family
    Philosophical Quarterly 48 (192): 335-352. 1998.
    Article
  •  38
    Brexit
    The Philosophers' Magazine 74 24-26. 2016.
  •  61
    The Quality of Gooditude
    Journal of Moral Philosophy 12 (4): 393-413. 2015.
    In this review essay, I fijirst analyze the main tenets of Larry Temkin’s Rethinking the Good and, in particular, his claim that the goodness of state of afffairs may not be transitive. I examine one of the key examples of the book, and how it is intended to underwrite this claim. Next I describe the diffference between the threat of non-transitivity and the idea of incommensurability. I also consider the plausibility of what Temkin calls the Essentially Comparative View, and explore possible res…Read more
  •  40
    I—Véronique Munoz-Dardé: Liberty's Chains
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 83 (1): 161-196. 2009.
    Is the principal concern of political philosophy the source of political authority? And, if so, can this source be located in individual consent? In this article I draw on Rousseau to answer the second question negatively; and in rejecting that answer, why we might answer the first question in the negative as well. We should be concerned with questions of legitimacy rather than with the source of authority and political obligation. Our principal concern, that is, should be with the question how …Read more
  •  105
    Equality and division: Values in principle
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 79 (1). 2005.
    Are there distinctively political values? Certain egalitarians seem to think that equality is one such value. Scheffler 's contribution to the symposium seeks to articulate a division of moral labour between norms of personal morality and the principles of justice that regulate social institutions, and using this suggests that the egalitarian critique of Rawls can be deflected. In this paper, instead, I question the status of equality as an intrinsic value. I argue that an egalitarianism which f…Read more
  •  130
    Liberty's chains
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 83 (1): 161-196. 2009.
    Is the principal concern of political philosophy the source of political authority? And, if so, can this source be located in individual consent? In this article I draw on Rousseau to answer the second question negatively; and in rejecting that answer, why we might answer the first question in the negative as well. We should be concerned with questions of legitimacy rather than with the source of authority and political obligation. Our principal concern, that is, should be with the question how …Read more
  •  65
    Cigales, fourmis, prudents et téméraires : leurs familles et leurs droits
    Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 1 (1): 103-121. 2002.
    L’article établit un contraste entre deux conceptions de la justice distributive (toutes deux libérales et égalitariennes), en vertu de leur attitude respective à l’égard des choix et de la responsabilité. Un premier type de théories établit la distribution des ressources en fonction de la distinction entre choix des agents et circonstances dans lesquelles ces choix s’opèrent : quiconque est responsable en vertu de ses choix de son manque de ressource est considéré avoir renoncé au droit à une c…Read more
  •  24
    Un dilemme pour le contractualisme contemporain?
    Les Etudes Philosophiques 4 (4): 501-516. 2006.
  •  347
    Is the family to be abolished then?
    Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 99 (1). 1999.
    This article explores the justice of the family. From the perspective of justice, the family causes serious concerns, for it causes severe inequalities between individuals. Several justice theorists remark that by its mere existence the family impedes the access to equality of life chances. The paper examines whether this means that justice requires the abolition of the family. It asks whether everyone, and, in particular, the worst off, would prefer the family to a generalized well-run orphanag…Read more
  •  154
    Rawls, justice in the family and justice of the family
    Philosophical Quarterly 48 (192): 335-352. 1998.
  •  64
    Book description:* Contributions from leading scholars in the field * Timely and important contribution to the moral and political debate about the status of children * Hot Topic The book contains contributions from thirteen distinguished moral and political philosophers on the subject of children. These are new essays and are devoted to a subject that until recently has not been extensively discussed by philosophers. Too often philosophers restrict themselves to the consideration only of the re…Read more
  •  218
    Samuel Scheffler. Egalitarian liberalism as moral pluralism
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 79 (1). 2005.
    [Samuel Scheffler] Some egalitarian liberals have proposed a division of moral labour between social institutions and individual agents, but the division-of-labour metaphor has been understood in different ways. This paper aims to disentangle some of these different understandings, with an eye to clarifying the appeal of the egalitarian-liberal project and the challenges that it faces. The idea of a division of moral labour is best understood as the expression of a strategy for accommodating div…Read more
  •  85
    In the Face of Austerity: The Puzzle of Museums and Universities
    Journal of Political Philosophy 21 (2): 221-242. 2013.
    How can certain cultural goods (for example, museums, ice rinks, opera, the study of humanities) make a claim on our joint resources when there are other urgent needs to be met? Most of us resist the claim that one should sacrifice such cultural goods in the face of urgent needs and their priority as a concern for social justice. At the same time, in refusing the consequence, we are not inclined to think cultural goods more important than the urgent needs of other human beings. What, then, justi…Read more
  •  157
    The distribution of numbers and the comprehensiveness of reasons
    Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 105 (2). 2005.
    In this paper, I concentrate on two themes: to what extent numbers bear on an agent's duties, and how numbers should relate to social policy. In the first half of the paper I consider the abstract case of a choice between saving two people and saving one, and my focus is on the contrast between a duty to act and a reason which merely makes an action intelligible. In the second half, I turn to the issue of social policy and investigate how if at all numbers can have a bearing there, if there is n…Read more
  •  36
    II—Véronique Munoz-Dardé: Equality and Division: Values in Principle 1
    Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 79 (1): 255-284. 2005.