Responsibility and Distributive Justice
Carl Knight, Zofia
Stemplowska - OUP Oxford, 2011
Under what conditions are people
responsible for their choices and the outcomes of those choices? How could such
conditions be fostered by liberal societies? Should what people are due as a
matter of justice depend on what they are responsible for? For example, how far
should healthcare provision depend on patients' past choices? What values would
be realized and which hampered by making justice sensitive to responsibility?
Would it give people what they deserve? Would it advance or hinder equality? The
explosion of philosophical interest in such questions has been fuelled by
increased focus on individual responsibility in political debates. Political
philosophers, especially egalitarians, have responded to such developments by
attempting to map out the proper place for responsibility in theories of
justice. Responsibility and Distributive Justice both reflects on these recent
developments in normative political theory and moves the debate forwards.
Written by established experts in the field and emerging scholars, it contains
essays previously unpublished in academic books or journals. It will be of
interest to researchers and students in political and moral
philosophy.
