March 12, 2012
Workplace Coercion
Coercion is a really difficult concept to define. When theorists say things like “the workplace is a site of coercion” what does that mean, and what should we do about…
All posts in: Academic Philosophy
March 12, 2012
Bleeding Heart Ideal Theory Libertarianism, Take 2
Say one had a view about what justice is but did not see justice, as understood on that view, instantiated in the world. Would one conclude that one’s view of…
March 07, 2012
Question to the Non-Ideal Theorists of Justice — What Do You Think of Henry Hazlitt?
I am in the midst of finishing off a draft of a paper on Henry Hazlitt for a conference at Duke next month. The conference is on the Economist as…
March 06, 2012
Sobel’s New Argument Against Self-Ownership
I thought BHL readers might be interested to learn about two cool new companion papers arguing against the Self-Ownership Thesis (SO) written by philosopher David Sobel. Sobel argues that SO…
February 28, 2012
What About Children?
Say you think that all autonomous people are entitled to make decisions without state interference, even if those decisions are ultimately self-harming. You may then notice that there are a…
February 27, 2012
Economists, Why So Consequentialist?
Economists are frequently (a) subjectivists about value and (b) consequentialists. (a) and (b) are in tension. Brief dialectical summary: Non-Consequentialist Philosopher: What should we do? Typical Economist: Maximize utility! Philosopher:…