Reading Group
Members’ Books at Amazon
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Sarah Conly, Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism
Bina Agarwal, Jane Humphries, and Ingrid Robeyns, eds., Amartya Sen's Work and Ideas: A Gender Perspective (US) (UK) (CA)
Catherine Audard, John Rawls (US) (UK) (CA)
Maria Baghramian & Attracta Ingram, eds., Pluralism: The Philosophy and Politics of Diversity (US) (UK) (CA)
Bat-Ami Bar On, The Subject of Violence (US) (UK) (CA)
Christian Barry and Thomas Pogge, eds., Global Institutions and Responsibilities (US) (UK) (CA)
Sonu Bedi, Rejecting Rights (US) (UK) (CA)
Richard Bellamy, Political Constitutionalism (US) (UK) (CA)
Charles Blattberg, From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics (US) (UK) (CA)
Chiara Bottici, A Philosophy of Political Myth (US) (UK) (CA)
Laurent Bouvet, Le communautarisme: Mythes et réalités (US) (UK) (FR)
Corey Brettschneider, Democratic Rights (US) (UK) (CA)
Harry Brighouse, On Education (US) (UK) (CA)
Harry Brighouse and Gillian Brock, eds., The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism (US) (UK) (CA)
Gillian Brock, Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account (US) (UK) (CA)
Thom Brooks, Hegel's Political Philosophy (US) (UK) (CA)
Thom Brooks, ed., The Global Justice Reader (US) (UK) (CA)
Allen Buchanan, Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination (US) (UK) (CA)
Mark Button, Contract, Culture, and Citizenship: Transformative Liberalism from Hobbes to Rawls (US) (UK) (CA)
Gideon Calder, Rorty's Politics of Redescription (US) (UK) (CA)
Eamonn Callan, Creating Citizens (US) (UK) (CA)
Simon Caney, Justice Beyond Borders: A Global Political Theory (US) (UK) (CA)
Thomas Christiano, The Constitution of Equality (US) (UK) (CA)
Claudio Corradetti, Relativism and Human Rights (US) (UK) (CA)
M. Victoria Costa, Rawls, Citizenship, and Education (US) (UK) (CA)
Derrick Darby, Rights, Race, and Recognition (US) (UK) (CA)
Monique Deveaux, Gender and Justice in Multicultural Liberal States (US) (UK) (CA)
Keith Dowding, Jurgen De Wispelaere, and Stuart White, eds., The Ethics of Stakeholding (US) (UK) (CA)
William Edmundson, Three Anarchical Fallacies (US) (UK) (CA)
David Estlund, Democratic Authority (US) (UK) (CA)
Colin Farrelly, Justice, Democracy and Reasonable Agreement (US) (UK) (CA)
Alessandro Ferrara, The Force of the Example (US) (UK) (CA)
Christopher Finlay, Hume's Social Philosophy (US) (UK) (CA)
Gordon Finlayson, Habermas: A Very Short Introduction (US) (UK) (CA)
James Fleming, Securing Constitutional Democracy: The Case of Autonomy (US) (UK) (CA)
Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Toleration as Recognition (US) (UK) (CA)
Graeme Garrard, Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment (US) (UK) (CA)
Carol Gould, Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights (US) (UK) (CA)
Benjamin Gregg, Coping in Politics with Indeterminate Norms (US) (UK) (CA)
Lori Gruen, Ethics and Animals: An Introduction (US) (UK) (CA)
Jospeh Heath, Following the Rules (US) (UK) (CA)
Jason Hill, Becoming a Cosmopolitan (US) (UK) (CA)
Nils Holtug and Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, eds., Egalitarianism (US) (UK) (CA)
Iseult Honohan, Civic Republicanism (US) (UK) (CA)
Dustin Ells Howes, Toward a Credible Pacifism (US) (UK) (CA)
Michael Huemer, Ethical Intuitionism (US) (UK) (CA)
Thomas Hurka, Perfectionism (US) (UK) (CA)
Alison Jaggar, ed., Just Methods: An Interdisciplinary Feminist Reader (US) (UK) (CA)
Simon Keller, The Limits of Loyalty (US) (UK) (CA)
Mark Kingwell and Patrick Turmel, eds., Rites of Way: The Politics and Poetics of Public Space (US) (UK) (CA)
Joshua Knobe and Shaun Nichols, eds., Experimental Philosophy (US) (UK) (CA)
Ari Kohen, In Defense of Human Rights (US) (UK) (CA)
Anthony Langlois, The Politics of Justice and Human Rights: Southeast Asia and Universalist Theory (US) (UK) (CA)
Steven Lecce, Against Perfectionism: Defending Liberal Neutrality (US) (UK) (CA)
Jacob T. Levy, The Multiculturalism of Fear (US) (UK) (CA)
Roderick T. Long, Reason and Value: Aristotle versus Rand (US) (UK) (CA)
Colin Macleod, Liberalism, Justice, and Markets: A Critique of Liberal Equality (US) (UK) (CA)
Rex Martin and David Reidy, eds., Rawls's Law of Peoples (US) (UK) (CA)
Matt Matravers, Responsibility and Justice (US) (UK) (CA)
Larry May, War Crimes and Just War (US) (UK) (CA)
John Maynor, Republicanism in the Modern World (US) (UK) (CA)
Steven Mazie, Israel's Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State (US) (UK) (CA)
Noëlle McAfee, Habermas, Kristeva, and Citizenship (US) (UK) (CA)
Christopher McMahon, Collective Rationality and Collective Reasoning (US) (UK) (CA)
Saladin Meckled-Garcia and Basak Cali, eds., The Legalization of Human Rights: Multidisciplinary Approaches (US) (UK) (CA)
Peter Meyers, Civic War and the Corruption of the Citizen (US) (UK) (CA)
Darrel Moellendorf, Global Inequality Matters (US) (UK) (CA)
Diane Morgan and Gary Banham, eds., Cosmopolitics and the Emergence of the Future (US) (UK) (CA)
Colleen Murphy, A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation (US) (UK) (CA)
Jan Narveson, You and the State: A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy (US) (UK) (CA)
Nahshon Perez, Freedom from Past Injustices (US) (UK) (CA)
Jonathan Quong, Liberalism without Perfection (US) (UK) (CA)
George Rainbolt, The Concept of Rights (US) (UK) (CA)
Andrew Rehfeld, The Concept of Constituency (US) (UK) (CA)
Rob Reich, Bridging Liberalism and Multiculturalism in American Education (US) (UK) (CA)
David Reidy and Walter Riker, Coercion and the State (US) (UK) (CA)
Melvin Rogers, The Undiscovered Dewey (US) (UK) (CA)
Andrew Sabl, Ruling Passions: Political Offices and Democratic Ethics (US) (UK) (CA)
Debra Satz, Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale (US) (UK) (CA)
Debra Satz and Rob Reich, eds., Toward a Humanist Justice: The Political Philosophy of Susan Moller Okin (US) (UK) (CA)
David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan, A Brief History of Liberty (US) (UK) (CA)
Sibyl Schwarzenbach, On Civic Friendship (US) (UK) (CA)
Tamsin Shaw, Nietzsche's Political Skepticism (US) (UK) (CA)
Tommie Shelby, We Who Are Dark (US) (UK) (CA)
Laurie Shrage, Abortion and Social Responsibility: Depolarizing the Debate (US) (UK) (CA)
A. John Simmons, Justification and Legitimacy (US) (UK) (CA)
Christine T. Sistare, ed., Civility and Its Discontents (US) (UK) (CA)
Sarah Song, Justice, Gender, and the Politics of Multiculturalism (US) (UK) (CA)
Jean-Fabien Spitz, John Locke et les fondements de la liberté moderne (US) (FR) (CA)
Uwe Steinhoff, The Philosophy of Jurgen Habermas (US) (UK) (CA)
Peter Stone, The Luck of the Draw (US) (UK) (CA)
Robert Talisse, Democracy after Liberalism (US) (UK) (CA)
Kok-Chor Tan, Justice without Borders (US) (UK) (CA)
Robert Taylor, Reconstructing Rawls (US) (UK) (CA)
C.L. Ten, ed., The Nineteenth Century (US) (UK) (CA)
Mathias Thaler, Moralische Politik oder politische Moral? (US) (UK)
Peter Vallentyne and Hillel Steiner, eds., Left-Libertarianism and its Critics (US) (UK)
Steve Vanderheiden, Atmospheric Justice: A Political Theory of Climate Change (US) (UK) (CA)
Steven Wall and George Klosko, eds., Perfectionism and Neutrality (US) (UK) (CA)
Eric Thomas Weber, Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy (US) (UK) (CA)
Daniel Weinstock and Christian Nadeau, eds., Republicanism: History, Theory and Practice (US) (UK) (CA)
Cynthia Willett, The Soul of Justice: Social Bonds and Racial Hubris (US) (UK) (CA)
Melissa Williams, Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation (US) (UK) (CA)
Jessica Wolfendale, Torture and the Military Profession (US) (UK) (CA)
Christopher Woodard, Reasons, Patterns, and Cooperation (US) (UK) (CA)
Christopher Zurn, Deliberative Democracy and the Institutions of Judicial Review (US) (UK) (CA)
Matt Zwolinski, ed., Arguing about Political Philosophy (US) (UK) (CA)
Category Archives: Discussion
Brettschneider Reading Group: Conclusion – Value Democracy at Home and Abroad
I’ve been appallingly remiss in fulfilling my duties this time around. In an effort to make good, I’ve spent several days poring over these excellent commentaries and discussions, as well as reacquainting myself with Corey’s wonderful book, which has taught … Continue reading
Brettschneider Reading Group: Introduction and Chapter 1
I’m very pleased to begin our reading group on Corey Brettschneider’s new book: When the State Speaks, What Should it Say? How Democracies Can Protect Expression and Promote Equality. In this post I’ll offer a brief summary of the introduction … Continue reading
PHILTV on Public Reason and Religion (Kevin Vallier and Jason Brennan)
Jason Brennan (Georgetown) and I (Bowling Green) have put together a conversation on public reason/political liberalism and its treatment of religious contributions to public life (which would not have been possible without the help of the great folks over at … Continue reading
Petition on the AHRC and “The Big Society”
The petition can be found here and I urge readers to consider signing it. It makes a point of principle, not politics: that the UK-based Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) — which funds research in areas such as law and … Continue reading
Most Cited Works in Political Theory
As part of a project to assess the relative impact of different works of political theory I ran a google scholar citation search on the authors listed below. Works had to be at least 10 years old, and with a … Continue reading
OPR VI.17. Arguments from Abtraction and the Claims of Agency
Summary of OPR.VI.17 Chapter VI begins by reminding us of an important conclusion from the previous chapter, namely, that the Members of the Public (MoP) will be confronted with a large set of rules of social morality, and that with … Continue reading
Which philosophy journal do you think is best?
Readers are encouraged to visit this link where they can vote for their favourite philosophy journals. The choice is fairly comprehensive with nearly 130 journals listed and more added daily. There have been more than 10,000 votes registered and there … Continue reading
The Order of Public Reason Reading Group Begins Monday, January 17th
This post is an announcement that our spring reading group on Gerald Gaus’s new The Order of Public Reason reading group begins a week from today on January 17th. We have a number of fabulous contributors who will take on various sections … Continue reading
Political Competence Bleg
I’m currently writing papers involving the idea of political incompetence, i.e., lacking competence to exercise political power properly.I’d like to start this thread just to collect intuitions, or, if you’re up for it, conclusions of short arguments. Question: If you … Continue reading
Advice for article reviewers: what is best practice?
Readers may be familiar with my “Publishing Advice for Graduate Students” which addressed issues from publishing book reviews and conference proceedings to replies, full length articles, and submitting book contracts successfully. I have been genuinely thrilled by its reception as … Continue reading
Reading Group Proposal: Gerald Gaus, The Order of Public Reason
For those of you who do not know, Cambridge is about to publish Jerry Gaus’s new book, The Order of Public Reason. It will be out in hardback by the first of next year. Here’s a general description of the … Continue reading
Query @ public reason
What is the single best thing to read about public reason? Something by Josh Cohen? David Estlund? Rawls himself? Other? (Particulars appreciated.) If context matters, say I want something that will convince an opponent that the later Rawlsian approach to … Continue reading
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and Political Philosophy
Speaking of non-ideal theory (or ideal theory in less than ideal contexts)… I am curious to hear whether my fellow public reasoners believe that the recent US Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance should have any impact on our work … Continue reading
A Thought on the Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory Distinction
Many of you have probably seen Simmons’ article just out in PPA on ideal and non-ideal theory. Simmons defends Rawls’ account of the ideal/non-ideal theory distinction and his paper is a must read. That said, I have been ruminating over … Continue reading
The Burqa in France
According to the BBC, in the latest twist in l’affaire du foulard/voile, a French parliamentary committee has recommended a ban on women wearing Islamic face veils in public [Correction: the proposal applies to public facilities, such as hospitals and mass transit, … Continue reading
Query: Should the US defend Google?
So, another query: Should the US defend Google? Why or why not?US to protest formally to China over Google ‘attacks’
humanitarian intervention question
A question: do people think international humanitarian intervention (or any international intervention, for that matter; perhaps even any intervention at all) has to be coercive? That is, as a conceptual issue, is intervention necessarily coercive?
Credit Cards and Exploitation
PBS‘ Frontline this week aired an interesting episode on the credit card industry, which began with a discussion of some of the controversial practices initiated by Providian and soon adopted by the bulk of its competitors. I think the episode raises some interesting philosophical questions about … Continue reading
Meet Stan Kazan and his Clan
Meet my neighbors, the Kazans. Stan and his wife Jan live together with their three grown children (one daughter and two sons) who are there until they can afford places of their own. They are a decent family, and they … Continue reading
At the risk of starting another discussion on libertarianism… but for the record.
Kevin asked me to post these comments which I had hoped would make it onto the Molinari web page a long time ago. They provide a short response to some replies by Jan Narveson and Roderick Long to some comments … Continue reading
Condorcet’s Jury Theorem as an Argument against Mass Democracy
Ok, if the mathematics discussed in my last post are right, here’s the upshot: Condorcet’s Jury Theorem (in its original formulation) says that in an election between A and B (where A is the right choice and B is the … Continue reading
Condorcet Jury Theorem Mathematics Help
If the conditions of the Condorcet Jury Theorem hold, then every additional jurist/voter adds some marginal amount of accuracy to the jury as a whole. However, this jury experiences diminishing marginal returns. If every juror has a 51% chance of … Continue reading
Vote Buying and Selling
Here are some questions I’m thinking about, and I wonder what you think. Suppose, for the sake or argument, I’ve established that voters have a duty to vote for candidates or policies which they justifiedly believe will promote the common … Continue reading
“The Fight for Science (and Justice)” (Part 2)
This post is a continuation of my earlier post from December. Last week President Obama give this excellent speech to the National Academy of Sciences. He pledged to invest 3% of GDP for science research (basic and applied research). He … Continue reading
What is a Means of Production?
Though I’m a political philosopher, Marxism/Socialism is not my area of expertise. Still, I was surprised when, while teaching an essay by Kai Nielsen the other day, I discovered that I really don’t know what a means of production is supposed … Continue reading
Topics and Issues in Voting Ethics
Hi everyone,I’m currently writing a book called The Ethics of Voting, and thought I’d ask you for advice and comments about what you’d like to see and what you think is important. The book will cover the personals ethics of … Continue reading
Fact Sensitivity of Principles – Something to get folks talking
Hi public reasoners. So, as you all know, GA Cohen let rip an attack against the fact-sensitivity of fundamental political principles in his 2003 PPA article, “Facts and Principles,” and then in his book Rescuing Justice and Equality. People have responded … Continue reading
On Public Reason and Justificatory Liberalism
Hi All, This isn’t really my area, but I’ve been thinking a bit about public reason lately (in preparing to comment on a paper at the APA) and I could think of no better place to put my thoughts than … Continue reading
The Ironic Tragedy of Human Rights
Fellow Public Reasoners, I recently posted an essay, “The Ironic Tragedy of Human Rights,” on the Social Science Research Network (at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1330693). As you can see from the summary below, the argument amounts to a very radical critique of human rights. This has left me wondering: … Continue reading
Response to Alon Harel on Chapter Seven of Democratic Rights, “Judicial Review: Balancing Rights and Procedures.”
I would like to thank Alon for his comments on Chapter 7, especially given the importance of his own work on the topic of the chapter. My conversations with him on this subject also have helped me to clarify my … Continue reading
Brettschneider Response to Alex Zakaras on Chapter Six of Democratic Rights, “Private Property and the Right to Welfare.”
Thanks to Alex for his thoughtful and helpful post on this chapter. His comments are especially helpful in thinking through how my account might respond to a kind of libertarian or “classically liberal” challenge. Specifically, Alex develops such a potential … Continue reading
Long-overdue replies to comments on “Rosa Parks”
I’ve been very negligent in replying to Ben’s and Andy’s excellent comments on my PPPS democratic leadership paper. It being Christmas Eve, I’ve finally found time to hastily write up my thoughts! They’re lengthy, so I’ve followed the pattern and … Continue reading
Comments on Gowder’s “Rosa Parks”
I’ve written some fairly extensive comments on the podcast that Paul Gowder posted a few weeks ago (or, more precisely, on the written paper (.pdf)). Since they’re several pages long, I’ve decided to link to them as a .pdf rather … Continue reading
The Fight for Science (and Justice)
Moral and political philosophers are concerned with how we ought to act, as both individuals and collectivity as societies. So we ask questions like: What makes an action right or wrong? What constitutes the “good life”? How should society distribute … Continue reading
Brettschneider Response to Jim Wilson on Democratic Rights, Chapter V, “The Rights of the Punished.”
Many thanks to Jim Wilson for an excellent discussion of Chapter V, “The Rights of the Punished.” I will focus on two issues raised by his comments. Both concern the relationship between my own theory and more traditional accounts of … Continue reading
The LPGA Demands that Its Players Speak English
Is everyone else as amazed as I am about the recent decision by the Ladies Professional Golf Association [where 45 of the top 120 players on the circuit are South Korean] to demand that all players be conversant in English? … Continue reading
The Questions of (Social, Political, Legal, ….) Philosophy
Ah, Fall. Classes here have started already! Probably because of what I am teaching this semester I started thinking about the questions we (members and subscribers to this blog and potential members and subscribers of this blog) address. It seems … Continue reading
re racial profiling
I just wanted to make some quick comments on racial profiling. While sympathetic to Keller’s idea that compensation is owed those wrongly stopped, does he propose to cabin this to racial profiling, or does he want all wrongful stops by … Continue reading
