March 27, 2011
The Ethics of Voting on Sunday Edition
Click here for my interview with Michael Enright on CBC's The Sunday Edition. Scroll down and click on the second hour of the show to activate a pop up. You can also hear…
March 27, 2011
Social Parasitism
Here’s another issue that may divide libertarians from progressives. It is prima facie wrong to live off the productive efforts of others. That is, other things being equal, being productive…
March 25, 2011
In Defense of Idealism
A Dialogue: Philosopher: “A perfectly just society would look like X.” Economist: “That’s unrealistic. In real life, people would respond badly to the incentives produced in X.” Philosopher: “Sure, but…
March 25, 2011
Comparative Institutional Evaluation, or How Not to Do Political Philosophy
Consider the following only slightly exaggerated version of an argument that occurs in a lot of political philosophy 1. Institution X is unjust or bad.2. Therefore, X should be abolished or…
March 24, 2011
Is There a Duty to Vote?: Instrumental Arguments
Most people assume there is a duty to vote. Philosophers generally agree. (In fact, there’s even some evidence that they rate voting more morally good than donating to charity…
March 24, 2011
Justice, Disagreement, and Legitimacy
Here is a thought experiment. It’s intended especially for libertarians, and even more so for natural rights libertarians of the Lockean/Nozickian/Rothbardian sort. But the rest of you should feel free…