This is Political Philosophy is an accessible and well-balanced introduction to the main issues in political philosophy written by an author team from the fields of both philosophy and politics. This text connects issues at the core of political philosophy with current, live debates in policy, politics, and law and addresses different ideals of political organization, such as democracy, liberty, equality, justice, and happiness. Written with great clarity, This is Political Philosophy is accessible and engaging to those who have little or no prior knowledge of political philosophy and is supported with supplemental pedagogical and instructor material on the This Is Philosophy series site.
Available at https://www.wiley.com/en-us/thisisphilosophy/thisispoliticalphilosophyanintroduction
How to Use this Book xi Preface xiii Part I The Problem of Authority 1 1 Happiness 3 Doing Political Philosophy 4 Happiness, Welfare, and the Aims of Government 5 If You’re Happy Do You Know It? 5 The Pursuit of Happiness 6 Whose happiness? 7 Can you measure pleasure? 8 Future happiness 10 Pleasure and pain 11 Is happiness fulfilling your desires? 12 Do the ends justify the means? 14 Nozick’s Experience Machine 14 Happiness and virtue 15 The case of John Stuart Mill 17 Capabilities 18 Conflicts between liberty and happiness 22 Conflicts between equality and happiness 22 Happiness and Government 23 Happiness and Public Goods 24 Free Riding and Small Contributions 25 Philosophical objections 26 Should we evaluate political institutions according to their ability to make people happy? 27 References and Further Reading 28 Online Resources 30 2 Freedom 31 The Meaning of Freedom 34 The Fundamental Question 34 What Is Freedom? And Who Is Free? 35 Subjective and objective freedom 36 What counts as restraining freedom? 37 Freedom and consent 38 Republican liberty 39 Private freedom and public freedom 40 Negative and positive liberty 41 Paternalism, the Harm Principle, and Moralism 42 Paternalism 42 The harm principle 44 Moralism 48 Can (and should) we avoid moralism? 50 Conclusion 51 References and Further Reading 52 Online Resources 53 3 Equality 54 Introduction 55 How Unequal Are People in the United States? 56 Against Equality: A Politics of Procrustes? 57 Unequal Treatment and Discrimination 59 Equality as a Baseline? 61 Equality of Resources and Luck Egalitarianism 62 First objection: Disabilities 62 Second objection: Slavery of the talented 63 Third objection: Expensive tastes 63 Equality of Opportunity 64 Should we level down? 66 What Does Equality of Opportunity Require? 67 Inequalities in the Real World 68 Inequality or Deprivation? 71 Is Sufficiency Enough? 73 Complex Equality 73 Race, Gender, and the Social Construction of Inequalities 75 Affirmative Action 76 Conclusion 78 References and Further Reading 78 Online Resources 80 4 Justice 81 Justice: A Brief Introduction 82 Rawls’s Theory of Justice 83 The original principle and the veil of ignorance 84 Rawls’s two principles of justice 85 The Libertarian Critique: Individual Liberty Restricts Redistribution 87 Utilitarian Critique: An Alternative Rationale for Redistribution 91 Feminist Critique: The Public–Private Distinction and Power Relations 93 Communitarian Critique: Alternatives to Individualism 96 Cosmopolitan Critique: The Demands of Global Justice 97 Conclusion 99 References and Further Reading 99 Online Resources 101 Part II Core Values in Political Philosophy 103 5 Democracy 105 Democracy and Political Self‐Governance 107 What Is Democracy? 108 Who Gets to Participate? 108 Constitutional Democracy and Rights 110 Sources of rights 111 Claim and liberty rights 113 Interest and choice theories of rights 114 Benefits of Democracy: The Instrumental Case 115 Would a kind dictator be a bad thing? 115 Do the people know best? 116 Can representation help? 117 Is Democratic Self‐Governance Intrinsically Valuable? 118 Is There a Right to Democratic Self‐Governance? 119 What Are the Implications of a Right to Democratic Self‐Governance? 120 Voting and Representation: Interests or Ideals? 122 Does Democracy Rest on a Paradox? 123 Deliberative Democracy as a Solution? 125 Distorting Democracy: Persistent Minorities and Electoral Inequalities 126 Persistent minorities 126 Electoral inequalities 126 Do Democracies Decline and Fall? 128 References and Further Reading 130 Online Resources 131 6 The Obligation to Obey the Law 132 Breaking the Law 135 Motives for breaking the law 135 Ways of breaking the law 136 Unjust laws 137 Are we obligated just because it is a law? 137 How strong are our legal obligations? 139 Breaking the Law: A “How to” Guide 140 Civil disobedience 140 Violence 141 What should be on the menu? 143 What should we choose from the menu? 143 Principles for ideal and nonideal agents 144 Do We Have an Obligation at All? 147 Consent 147 Gratitude 150 Fairness 150 Duty 151 Membership 152 Conclusion 152 References and Further Reading 153 Online Resources 154 7 Political Violence: War, Torture, and Punishment 155 Umkhonto we Sizwe 157 What Is Violence? 159 When (If Ever) Is Violence Justified? 161 Pacifism 162 Gandhi’s pacifism 163 Russell’s “relative pacifism” 163 Ius ad bellum: “Just War” and the Justification of Large‐Scale Violence 164 Testing Just War Theory 166 Vagueness 167 Manipulability 167 Ius in bello: Justice in the Conduct of War 168 Cultural Conflicts and the Laws of War 170 Pushing the Limits, I: Preemptive War 171 Pushing the Limits, II: When Are Captured Combatants “Prisoners of War?” 172 Pushing the Limits, III: Torture, “Enhanced Interrogation,” and Ticking Bombs 173 Punishment 175 Rationales for punishment 176 Positive future consequences 176 Desert 177 Sending a message 178 War, torture, and punishment in political context 179 References and Further Reading 180 Online Resources 182 Part III Specific Topics 183 8 Who Counts? 185 Who Gets Justice? 187 The Guano Ring 188 Animals 189 Moral Standing and Moral Personhood 191 Degrees of Moral Standing? The Constitutive View 195 Comparative Moral Standing: The Constitutive View 195 Comparing Characteristics and Abilities 196 Objections to the Constitutive View 197 Hard Case I: Fertilized Ova and Fetuses 198 Hard Case II: Childhood and Disability 201 Hard Case III: Distant Peoples and Future Generations 204 Hard Case IV: Posthumans? 205 Hard Case V: Ecosystems and the Natural World 205 Upshot 208 References and Further Reading 208 Online Resources 209 9 Religion and Politics 210 Religion and Politics 213 Is Religion Special? 214 The limits of toleration 216 Neutrality and religion 218 Neutrality of intent 219 Exemptions for nonreligious reasons 221 Multiculturalism 222 Justifications for multiculturalism 223 Which policies would multiculturalism recommend? 224 Criticisms of multiculturalism 225 Freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, or freedom of culture? 226 Is Religion Suspect in Politics? 227 Four sample views on the environment 228 Reasons everyone can accept 229 Overlapping consensus 230 Should religion and philosophy be treated the same? 230 Arguing fairly 232 Conclusion 233 References and Further Reading 233 Online Resources 234 10 Money, Lies, and Political Corruption 236 Lying Politicians 238 What is a lie? 238 Why do people lie? 240 Utility 240 Intentions 241 Hugo Grotius and the rights approach 241 Virtue 242 A license to lie? 242 Sneaky ways to win an election 243 When is lying justified? 245 Dirty hands 246 Bribery and Corruption 247 Is Blagojevich that different? 250 Individual versus institutional corruption 250 Campaign finance 251 Ethics and institutions 252 Just following orders 252 Who is responsible? 253 Compromise 254 Conclusion 254 References and Further Reading 255 Online Resources 257 Index 000
Alex Tuckness is a Professor at Iowa State University in the departments of Political Science and Philosophy. His research focuses on toleration, mercy, punishment, international humanitarianism, and public service ethics. He is the author of Locke and the Legislative Point of View (2002) and The Decline of Mercy in Public Life (with John Michael Parrish, 2014) as well as numerous articles. Clark Wolf is Professor at Iowa State University in the departments of Philosophy and Political Science. His research focuses on issues in the theory of justice, the philosophy of law, and bioethics. His work on law, intergenerational justice, political liberalism, intellectual property, reproductive ethics, and environmental ethics have appeared in Ethics and other major journals.
