Introduction: Bioethics and Asian Culture — A Quest for Moral Diversity

This chapter considers the case for recasting the moral values that inform sentencing and the policy implications of such a fundamental change of approach. It suggests that prospects for promoting social justice through sentencing continue to be constrained by existing penal values, with procedural justice, communication systems, and decision-making evaluated against this governance framework. The chapter argues for new foundational principles and explores how such a moral transition might be effected through structural reforms to domestic sentencing. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties of recasting values and structures to reflect sentencing’s changed role as a tool for engaging with social justice issues. The chapter examines specific areas of policy change within England and Wales and the problem of moving from theory to practice through the analysis of recent government reforms, highlighting how sentencing policy and practice might respond more effectively to changes in social values and moral diversity.

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Minimal Morality

10.1093/oso/9780198785927.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Michael Moehler

Keyword(s):

Social Contract ◽

Moral Pluralism ◽

Moral Diversity ◽

Moral Agents ◽

Restricted Form ◽

Pluralistic Societies ◽

The Social ◽

History Of ◽

Just Society

This book develops a novel multilevel social contract theory that, in contrast to existing theories in the liberal tradition, does not merely assume a restricted form of reasonable moral pluralism, but is tailored to the conditions of deeply morally pluralistic societies that may be populated by liberal moral agents, nonliberal moral agents, and, according to the traditional understanding of morality, nonmoral agents alike. To develop this theory, the book draws on the history of the social contract tradition, especially the work of Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Rawls, and Gauthier, as well as on the work of some of the critics of this tradition, such as Sen and Gaus. The two-level contractarian theory holds that morality in its best contractarian version for the conditions of deeply morally pluralistic societies entails Humean, Hobbesian, and Kantian moral features. The theory defines the minimal behavioral restrictions that are necessary to ensure, compared to violent conflict resolution, mutually beneficial peaceful long-term cooperation in deeply morally pluralistic societies. The theory minimizes the problem of compliance by maximally respecting the interests of all members of society. Despite its ideal nature, the theory is, in principle, applicable to the real world and, for the conditions described, most promising for securing mutually beneficial peaceful long-term cooperation in a world in which a fully just society, due to moral diversity, is unattainable. If Rawls’ intention was to carry the traditional social contract argument to a higher level of abstraction, then the two-level contractarian theory brings it back down to earth.

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