James P. SterbaFrom Rationality to Equality
Anteprima del libro
Most contemporary moral
and political philosophers would like to have an argument showing that morality
is rationally required. In From Rationality to Equality, James P. Sterba
provides just such an argument and further shows that morality, so justified,
requires substantial equality. His argument from rationality to morality is
based on the principle of non-question-beggingness and has two forms. The first
assumes that the egoist is willing to argue for egoism non-question-beggingly,
and the second only assumes that the egoist is willing to assent to premises
she actually needs to achieve her egoistic goals. Either way, he argues,
morality is rationally (i.e., non-question-beggingly) preferable to egoism.
Sterba's argument from morality to equality non-question-beggingly starts with
assumptions that are acceptable from a libertarian perspective, the view that
appears to endorse the least enforcement of morality, and then shows that this
perspective requires a right to welfare which, when extended to distant peoples
and future generations, leads to equality. He defends his two-part argument
against recent critics, and shows how it is preferable not only to alternative
attempts to justify morality, but also to alternative attempts to show that
morality leads to a right to welfare and/or to equality.
