From the monthly archives: March 2011

Bleeding Heart Libertarianism on NPR

By On March 31, 2011 · 5 Comments · In Libertarianism, Social Justice

 

KPBS's These Days did a short interview with me this morning about this blog and the ideas behind it.  You can access the audio and (in the next day or so) a transcript at their site.  Or you can click on the link below for direct access to [...]

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Why Not Capitalism?

By On March 31, 2011 · 8 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Book/Article Reviews

Following up on my summary of Cohen's Why Not Socialism?. I'll express one objection to Cohen here, though I have others.

Imagine we all go on a camping trip together. We bring our own stuff. Some of us live in groups, sharing our stuff communally within the group. Some of us [...]

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Two Concepts of Justice

By On March 31, 2011 · 17 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Social Justice

When I look at the way people talk about justice, I see that they tend to fall into two broad camps:

1. Justice as a Set of Ideals:                       

Norms of justice tells us how a society would have to be structured to be [...]

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Discerning Desert

By On March 31, 2011 · 27 Comments · In Social Justice

Since my last post on the subject, Bryan Caplan has put up two very interesting posts over at EconLog about the distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor.  The issue is this: is there a genuine distinction to be made between the poor who deserve our help [...]

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For shame, Mackinac

By On March 30, 2011 · 12 Comments · In Current Events

This isn't really a bleeding-heart point.  But BHL is the highest-profile libertarian place I have access to for the following:

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, one of the most prominent of the state and region-level free market think tanks, has gone on a Freedom of Information Act fishing expedition for all [...]

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What is Social Justice?

By On March 30, 2011 · 23 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Libertarianism, Social Justice

In a few of my early posts on this blog, I claimed that libertarianism is compatible with a commitment to some kind of social justice.  But I was deliberately vague about just what a commitment to “social justice” entails.

In this post, I want to survey a few ways in which the [...]

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My Op-Ed in the Globe and Mail

By On March 30, 2011 · 1 Comment · In Current Events

 

I wrote a short, non-partisan piece on being an informed and rational voter. Read it here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/be-a-smart-voter-canada-needs-you/article1961771/

 

 

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Cohen’s Why Not Socialism?

By On March 29, 2011 · 49 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Book/Article Reviews

In Why Not Socialism?, G. A. Cohen argues that socialism is intrinsically desirable, and capitalism is intrinsically repugnant. I'm willing to bet most of you here will not be convinced by his argument. So, I will do my best to outline his position. Please tell me where he makes a mistake. [...]

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Just Because It’s Just Doesn’t Mean It’s Just to Enforce It.

By On March 29, 2011 · 6 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Social Justice

SOME CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS

You’ve read some of us (in particular, Matt and me) sometimes claiming that certain things are required by justice. A few of our readers have then complained (on other blogs) that if justice requires those things, then this would license totalitarianism, as governments would then have the mission of enforcing those things.

[...]

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Other Moral Values (Responses to my 3/15 post, Part IV)

By On March 29, 2011 · 2 Comments · In Liberalism, Libertarianism, Liberty, Social Justice, Toleration

This is the fourth and last post that attempts to respond to comments on my 3/15 post Some Values Matter More Than Others And Are Ignored Anyway.

A reader (Mike W.) thinks trust is a central moral value.  I’m inclined to agree.  I tend to doubt, though, that it can [...]

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