Against perfectionism : defending liberal neutrality / Steven Lecce.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lecce, Steven, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberalism--Philosophy.

Liberalism.

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Liberalism--Moral and ethical aspects.

Physical Description:

xii, 348 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, [2008]

Contents:

Part 1 Three Classic Controversies

1 Putting Up with Heresy 19

1.2 The Contractual Argument 21

1.2.1 The Epistemic Argument 26

1.2.2 The Pluralist Argument 28

1.3 Proast on Locke 30

1.4 Contractualism and Abstraction in Liberal Political Morality 36

2 Freedom for Eccentrics 46

2.2 The Liberty Principle 47

2.3 Stephen on Mill 61

2.4 Stephen Examined 66

2.5 A Utilitarian Defence of Liberalism? 71

3 Is Prostitution Unpatriotic? 76

3.2 Devlin's Disintegration Thesis 79

3.2.1 The Democratic Argument 81

3.3 Hart on Devlin 83

3.3.1 The Democratic Argument Considered 87

3.4 A Communitarian Reinterpretation of the Disintegration Thesis? 89

Part 2 Liberalism Today

4 Should Liberals Be Perfectionists? 97

4.2 Well-Being and Personal Autonomy 98

4.3 Practical Reason, Value, and Authority 109

4.4 Moral Pluralism and the Harm Principle 111

4.5 Raz's Harm Principle Examined 115

4.6 Perfectionism and Politics 131

5 The Continuity Thesis 136

5.2 The Challenge Model of Ethics 138

5.2.1 From Ethics to Politics 142

5.3 The Challenge Model Examined 145

5.3.1 Challenge and Equality of Resources 145

5.3.2 Challenge and Anti-paternalism 148

5.3.3 Challenge and Ethical Neutrality 151

5.3.4 Whom Is the Challenge Model For? 152

5.4 Desert Island Contractualism? The Auction and Neutrality 154

6 Contract Killing: A Critique 162

6.2 The Reflexivity Thesis 163

6.3 Two Concepts of Reasonableness 169

6.3.1 Equality 170

6.3.2 Plurality 171

6.3.3 Abstraction 172

6.4 How to Defend Neutrality 177

Part 3 Defending Liberal Neutrality

7 Democratic Equality 183

7.2 Moral Equality 185

7.3 Democracy 190

7.4 Democracy and Contractualism 193

8 Against the Epistemic Turn 201

8.2 Society as a Fair System of Cooperation 204

8.2.1 The Social Contract: The Argument for the Original Position 205

8.2.2 The Social Contract: The Argument from the Original Position 206

8.2.3 Stability for the Right Reasons, and the Idea of a Well-Ordered Society 208

8.2.4 Reasonable Pluralism and Stability 210

8.2.5 Political Liberalism: Basic Ideas 211

8.3 The 'Reasonable' in Rawls 214

8.4 Scanlon's Contractualism 222

9 Beyond the Basic Structure 226

9.2 The Argument Revisited 228

9.3 The Scope of Neutrality 230

9.3.1 Who or What Is to Be Neutral? 231

9.3.2 What Kind of State Neutrality, and Why? 233

9.4 Conclusion: The Place of Neutrality 237

10 How Political Is the Personal? 239

10.1 The Moral Division of Labour 241

10.2 The Socialist and Feminist Critiques 243

10.3 The Institutional Approach Defended 247

10.3.1 Three Ways That 'The Personal Is Political' 249

10.3.2 Applying Political Principles to the Personal: Three Sites and Modes 252

10.3.3 Three Different Types of Partiality 255

10.4 Justice and Economic Incentives 257

10.5 Justice and the Family 259

10.5.1 Familial Partiality 259

10.5.2 Justice and the Family 262.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [327]-339) and index.

ISBN:

9780802092120

0802092128

9780802094476

0802094473

OCLC:

166321265