Justice for the past / Stephen Kershnar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kershnar, Stephen.

Series:

SUNY series in American constitutionalism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Minorities--Civil rights--United States.

Minorities.

Minorities--Civil rights.

Minorities--Government policy.

United States.

Women's rights--United States.

Women's rights.

Minorities--Government policy--United States.

Women--Government policy--United States.

Women.

Women--Government policy.

Affirmative action programs--United States.

Affirmative action programs.

African Americans--Reparations.

African Americans.

Physical Description:

xii, 158 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2004.

Summary:

Among the most controversial issues in the United States is the question of whether public or private agencies should adopt preferential treatment programs or be required to pay reparations for slavery. Using a carefully reasoned philosophical approach, Stephen Kershnar argues that programs such as affirmative action and calls for slavery reparations are unjust for three reasons. First, the state has a duty to direct resources to those persons who, through their abilities, will benefit most from them. Second, he argues that, in the case of slavery, past injustice -- where both the victims and perpetrators are long dead -- cannot ground current claims to compensation. As terrible as slavery was, those who claim a right to compensation today owe their existence to it, he reasons, and since the events that bring about a person's existence are normally thought to be beneficial, past injustices do not warrant compensation. Finally, even if past injustices were allowed to serve as the basis of compensation in the present, other variables prevent a reasonable estimation of the amount owed.

Contents:

Section 2 Civil Rights Laws

1 The Most Qualified Applicant 11

Part 1. The Job Qualification 14

Part 2. The Best Conception of a Job Qualification Yields at Most a Very Weak Reason to Favor a Meritocracy 22

Part 3. Antidiscrimination Laws Cannot Be Justified by Meritocratic Concerns 26

Part 4. Qualifications for Educational Institutions 27

Section 3 Strong Affirmative Action

2 Strong Affirmative-Action Programs at State Institutions 33

Part 2. The Duty to Judge Persons according to Their Interests and Desert 35

Part 3. Strong Affirmative-Action Programs at State Educational Institutions Cannot Be Justified via Compensatory Justice 40

3 Uncertain Damages to Racial Minorities and Strong Affirmative Action 53

Part 1. The Hypothetical Imperative to Distribute Resources in a Just Manner 53

Part 2. Compensatory Justice and the Assessment of Damages 54

Part 3. Compensatory Justice and Inadequate Knowledge of Damages 55

Part 4. We Do Not Have Adequate Knowledge of the Amount of Compensable Injury to Current Members of Some Racial Minority Groups 58

Section 4 Reparations for Slavery

4 The Inheritance-Based Claim to Reparations 69

Part 2. Slavery Did Not Harm the Descendants of Slaves 70

Part 3. Compensation May Be Owed to the Descendants of Slaves As a Result of a Legitimate Inheritance Claim 76

5 Reject the Inheritance-Based Claim to Reparations 83

Part 1. Objections to the Inheritance-Based Claim to Reparations 83

Part 2. Who Owes Compensation? 87

Section 5 Proper Respect

6 Intrinsic Moral Value and Racial Differences 95

Part 1. The Expression of Equal Moral Value 95

Part 2. The Argument 98

Part 3. Implications of the Argument 111

Section 6 Educational Diversity

7 Experiential Diversity 119

Part 1. Grutter and Bakke 120

Part 2. Experiential Diversity and Truth 122

Part 3. A More General Approach to Diversity 126

Part 4. Equal-Opportunity Arguments 128.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-155) and index.

ISBN:

0791460711

079146072X

OCLC:

54529412