Social contract theory for a diverse world : beyond tolerance / Ryan Muldoon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muldoon, Ryan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social contract.

Justice (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

x, 131 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2016.

Summary:

Highly diverse societies pose real problems for Rawlsian models of public reason. This is for two reasons: first, public reason is unable to accommodate diverse perspectives in determining a regulative ideal. Second, regulative ideals are unable to respond to social change. While models based on public reason focus on the justification of principles, this book suggests that we need to orient our normative theories more toward discovery and experimentation. The book develops a unique approach to social contract theory that focuses on diverse perspectives. It offers a new moral stance that author Ryan Muldoon calls "The View from Everywhere," which allows to substantive, fundamental moral disagreement. This stance is used to develop a bargaining model in which agents can cooperate despite seeing different perspectives. Rather than arguing for an ideal contract or particular principles of justice, Muldoon outlines a procedure for iterated revisions to the rules of a social contract. It expands Mill's conception of experiments in living to help form a foundational principle for social contract theory. By embracing this kind of experimentation, we move away from a conception of justice as an end state, and toward a conception of justice as a trajectory. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Taking Diversity Seriously 7

2 Expanding the Justificatory Framework of Mill's Experiments in Living 21

2.1 Introduction 21

2.2 Homogeneity and Stasis: Undermining Democratic Legitimacy 23

2.3 Parallels with Rawlsian Public Reason Liberalism 27

2.4 Discovery and Justification 29

2.5 Experiments in Living 30

2.6 Mills Solution: Genius 32

2.7 Small-Scale Experimentation 33

2.8 The Primacy of Discovery and Experimentation for Political Justification in a Changing World 35

3 The View from Everywhere 38

3.1 Introduction 38

3.2 The View from Nowhere 39

3.3 The View from Somewhere 43

3.4 The View from Everywhere 45

3.4.1 The Role of Beliefs 46

3.4.2 The Role of Perspectives 48

3.4.3 The Aggregation Procedure 53

3.5 Learning Our Limits 58

4 Justice without Agreement 62

4.1 Sen's Insight 62

4.2 What Is a Social Contract? 65

4.3 Bargaining versus Deliberation Approaches to the Social Contract 68

4.4 A Conception of Bights 72

4.5 The Bargaining Model 77

4.5.1 Multi-Perspectival Bargaining 80

4.6 Multi-Perspectival Equality 85

5 Experiments in Distributive Justice 88

5.1 Two Competing Images of Social Bonds 88

5.2 Minimal Equality 92

5.3 Creating Prosperity 96

5.3.1 Plural Production 97

5.3.2 Distributive Justice in a Diverse Society 102

5.4 The Distribution of Public Goods 106

5.5 The Limits of Diversity 109

5.6 Experiments as Evidence for Future Revision 110

6 Dynamic Political Philosophy 115.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138681361

1138681369

OCLC:

950894275