August 18, 2012
The Trolley Non-Problem?
Over at Philosophy etc, Bradley Gabbard argues that a widespread intuition about the trolley problem can justify compulsory aid to the global poor. Here is the trolley problem: A runaway…
All posts in: Academic Philosophy
August 16, 2012
Justice: Realized or Guaranteed?
We have discussed at length the differences between bleeding-heart libertarians and liberal egalitarians. Let us assume that both camps agree that political institutions must take centrally into account the plight…
August 10, 2012
Moral Authority: Who Needs It?
I have claimed in a number of my recent posts that libertarians have failed to recognize the potential for authoritarianism in their refusal to submit their property claims to the…
August 03, 2012
The Later Rawls’s Critique of Libertarianism
John Rawls was a critic of libertarianism. This much is well known. What is less well known is Rawls’s criticism of libertarianism in Political Liberalism (which I’m rereading in preparation…
July 30, 2012
Liz Anderson on Social Democracy and Libertarianism
I just finished listening to Elizabeth Anderson’s Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy at the University of Chicago, on “Tom Paine and the Ironies of Social Democracy.” It’s a great…
July 26, 2012
Public Justification
I’ve recently had the privilege of taking over the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Public Justification from political philosopher Fred D’Agostino. Our new co-authored entry (which I will fully…