Public Reason and Applied Ethics

Public Reason and Applied Ethics
Author: Adela Cortina
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2017-05-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1317073444

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Examining the theoretical and empirical status of applied ethics, this volume demonstrates how a pluralistic and democratic society can deal with ethical issues in the light of its moral conscience. The volume first sets the stage for a conception of applied ethics as applications of transnational civil ethics, based both on a discourse theory of knowledge (Apel, Habermas), and on an activities and capabilities approach (Aristotle, Sen). It then examines how applied ethics relates to important theoretical discussions in philosophy such as constructivism, virtue ethics, hermeneutic and deliberative theory. The contributors discuss applied ethics in light of globalization and identify recurring dilemmas as well as the problem of universal norms. They close by considering two aspects of the institutional point of view - republicanism, and contractarianism and constitutional economics.

The Order of Public Reason

The Order of Public Reason
Author: Gerald Gaus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 642
Release: 2010-12-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521868563

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In this innovative and important work, Gerald Gaus advances a revised, and more realistic, account of public reason liberalism, showing how, in the midst of fundamental disagreement about values and moral beliefs, we can achieve a moral and political order that treats all as free and equal moral persons. The first part of this work analyzes social morality as a system of authoritative moral rules. Drawing on an earlier generation of moral philosophers such as Kurt Baier and Peter Strawson as well as current work in the social sciences, Gaus argues that our social morality is an evolved social fact, which is the necessary foundation of a mutually beneficial social order. The second part considers how this system of social moral authority can be justified to all moral persons. Drawing on the tools of game theory, social choice theory, experimental psychology, and evolutionary theory, Gaus shows how a free society can secure a moral equilibrium that is endorsed by all, and how a just state respects, and develops, such an equilibrium.

Hobbesian Applied Ethics and Public Policy

Hobbesian Applied Ethics and Public Policy
Author: Shane D. Courtland
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2017-07-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1315534398

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Most philosophers and political scientists readily admit that Thomas Hobbes is a significant figure in the history of political thought. His theory was, arguably, one of the first to provide a justification for political legitimacy from the perspective of each individual subject. Many excellent books and articles have examined the justification and structure of Hobbes’ commonwealth, ethical system, and interpretation of Christianity. What is troubling is that the Hobbesian project has been largely missing in the applied ethics and public policy literature. We often find applications of Kantian deontology, Bentham’s or Mill’s utilitarianism, Rawls’s contractualism, the ethics of care, and various iterations of virtue ethics. Hobbesian accounts are routinely ignored and often derided. This is unfortunate because Hobbes’s project offers a unique perspective. To ignore it, when such a perspective would be fruitful to apply to another set of theoretical questions, is a problem in need of a remedy. This volume seeks to eliminate (or, at the very least, partially fill) this gap in the literature. Not only will this volume appeal to those that are generally familiar with Hobbesian scholarship, it will also appeal to a variety of readers that are largely unfamiliar with Hobbes.

Public Reason and Bioethics

Public Reason and Bioethics
Author: Hon-Lam Li
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2022-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030611701

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This book explores and elaborates three theories of public reason, drawn from Rawlsian political liberalism, natural law theory, and Confucianism. Drawing together academics from these separate approaches, the volume explores how the three theories critique each other, as well as how each one brings its theoretical arsenal to bear on the urgent contemporary debate of medical assistance in dying. The volume is structured in two parts: an exploration of the three traditions, followed by an in-depth overview of the conceptual and historical background. In Part I, the three comprehensive opening chapters are supplemented by six dynamic chapters in dialogue with each other, each author responding to the other two traditions, and subsequently reflecting on the possible deficiencies of their own theories. The chapters in Part II cover a broad range of subjects, from an overview of the history of bioethics to the nature of autonomy and its status as a moral and political value. In its entirety, the volume provides a vibrant and exemplary collaborative resource to scholars interested in the role of public reason and its relevance in bioethical debate.

Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy

Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy
Author: Eric Thomas Weber
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2011-05-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1441174184

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In Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy, Eric Weber argues for an experimentalist approach to moral theory in addressing practical problems in public policy. The experimentalist approach begins moral inquiry by examining public problems and then makes use of the tools of philosophy and intelligent inquiry to alleviate them. Part I surveys the uses of practical philosophy and answers criticisms - including religious challenges - of the approach, presenting a number of areas in which philosophers' intellectual efforts can prove valuable for resolving public conflicts. Part II presents a new approach to experimentalism in moral theory, based on the insights of John Dewey's pragmatism. Focusing on the elements of good public inquiry and the experimentalist attitude, Weber discusses ways of thinking about the effective construction and reconstruction of particular problems, including practical problems of public policy prioritization. Finally, in Part III the book examines real-world examples in which the experimentalist approach to ethics proves useful, including instances of "bandwidth theft" and the controversies surrounding activist judges in the US Supreme Court.

Rawls and Religion

Rawls and Religion
Author: Tom Bailey
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2014-12-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231538391

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John Rawls's influential theory of justice and public reason has often been thought to exclude religion from politics, out of fear of its illiberal and destabilizing potentials. It has therefore been criticized by defenders of religion for marginalizing and alienating the wealth of religious sensibilities, voices, and demands now present in contemporary liberal societies. In this anthology, established scholars of Rawls and the philosophy of religion reexamine and rearticulate the central tenets of Rawls's theory to show they in fact offer sophisticated resources for accommodating and responding to religions in liberal political life. The chapters reassert the subtlety, openness, and flexibility of his sense of liberal "respect" and "consensus," revealing their inclusive implications for religious citizens. They also explore the means he proposes for accommodating nonliberal religions in liberal politics, developing his conception of "public reason" into a novel account of the possibilities for rational engagement between liberal and religious ideas. And they reevaluate Rawls's liberalism from the "transcendent" perspectives of religions themselves, critically considering its normative and political value, as well as its own "religious" character. Rawls and Religion makes a unique and important contribution to contemporary debates over liberalism and its response to the proliferation of religions in contemporary political life.

Public Reason

Public Reason
Author: Fred D'Agostino
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing
Total Pages: 502
Release: 1998
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

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The essays that make up this volume, explore the idea of public reason. The task of identifying a distinctively public reason has become pressing in our deeply pluralistic society, just because doubt has arisen whether what is good reasoning for one must be good reasoning for all. Examining the theories of Hobbes and Kant, and also using more recent work such as the comments and theories of John Rawls and David Gauthier, this book explores aspects of the idea of public reason. It explains public reason, and discusses areas such as pluralism, reasonable disagreement, moral conflict, political legitimacy, public justification and post-modernism.

Political Liberalism

Political Liberalism
Author: John Rawls
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2005-03-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231527535

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This book continues and revises the ideas of justice as fairness that John Rawls presented in A Theory of Justice but changes its philosophical interpretation in a fundamental way. That previous work assumed what Rawls calls a "well-ordered society," one that is stable and relatively homogenous in its basic moral beliefs and in which there is broad agreement about what constitutes the good life. Yet in modern democratic society a plurality of incompatible and irreconcilable doctrines—religious, philosophical, and moral—coexist within the framework of democratic institutions. Recognizing this as a permanent condition of democracy, Rawls asks how a stable and just society of free and equal citizens can live in concord when divided by reasonable but incompatible doctrines? This edition includes the essay "The Idea of Public Reason Revisited," which outlines Rawls' plans to revise Political Liberalism, which were cut short by his death. "An extraordinary well-reasoned commentary on A Theory of Justice...a decisive turn towards political philosophy." —Times Literary Supplement

The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy

The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy
Author: Annabelle Lever
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 676
Release: 2018-10-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1315461714

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What does it mean to do public policy ethics today? How should philosophers engage with ethical issues in policy-making when policy decisions are circumscribed by political and pragmatic concerns? How do ethical issues in public policy differ between areas such as foreign policy, criminal justice, or environmental policy? The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy addresses all these questions and more, and is the first handbook of its kind. It is comprised of 41 chapters written by leading international contributors, and is organised into four clear sections covering the following key topics: Methodology: philosophical approaches to public policy, ethical expertise, knowledge, and public policy Democracy and public policy: identity, integration and inclusion: voting, linguistic policy, discrimination, youth policy, religious toleration, and the family Public goods: defence and foreign policy, development and climate change, surveillance and internal security, ethics of welfare, healthcare and fair trade, sovereignty and territorial boundaries, and the ethics of nudging Public policy challenges: criminal justice, policing, taxation, poverty, disability, reparation, and ethics of death policies. The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, politics, and social policy. It will be equally useful to those in related disciplines, such as economics and law, or professional fields, such as business administration or policy-making in general.

Philosophy and Public Policy

Philosophy and Public Policy
Author: Andrew I. Cohen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2018-08-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1786605252

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This book provides rigorous but accessible scholarship, ideal for students in philosophy and public policy. It includes twelve original essays by world-renowned scholars, each examining a key topic in philosophy and public policy and demonstrating how policy debates can be advanced by employing the tools and concepts of philosophy.