Introduction

Taxation ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Martin O’Neill ◽  
Shepley Orr
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Political Psychology ◽  
Tax Policy ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Public Justification ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
State Neutrality ◽  
Further Development

This chapter situates philosophical discussions of taxation with reference to the strongly contrasting approaches to tax, property, and justice embodied in Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia, and John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice. The twelve chapters of the book are situated against the opposing philosophical poles provided by the libertarian and Rawlsian approaches to tax, and we describe in particular the further development of the Rawlsian view by Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel in their book The Myth of Ownership: Taxes and Justice, which is a focal point for a number of the following chapters. We explain why and how taxation should be seen as central to political philosophy, given the importance of tax policy for both domestic and global justice, and given the close connections that taxation has to issues of property rights, democracy, public justification, state neutrality, stability, political psychology, and a range of other issues.

Taxation

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Psychology ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Public Justification ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
Tax System ◽  
State Neutrality ◽  
Philosophical Questions

Taxation: Philosophical Perspectives is the first edited collection devoted to addressing philosophical issues relating to tax. The tax system is central to the operation of states and to the ways in which states interact with individual citizens. Taxes are used by states to fund the provision of public goods and public services, to engage in direct or indirect forms of redistribution, and to mould the behaviour of individual citizens. As the chapters in this volume show, there are a number of pressing and significant philosophical issues relating to the tax system, and these issues often connect in fascinating ways with foundational questions regarding property rights, democracy, public justification, state neutrality, stability, political psychology, and a range of other issues. Many of these deep and challenging philosophical questions about tax have not always received as much sustained attention as they clearly merit. Our hope is that this book will advance the debate along a number of these philosophical fronts, and be a welcome spur to further work. The book’s aim of advancing the debate about tax in political philosophy has both general and more specific aspects, involving both overarching issues regarding the tax system as a whole and more specific issues relating to particular forms of tax policy. Serious philosophical work on the tax system requires an interdisciplinary approach, and this volume therefore includes contributions from a number of scholars whose expertise spans neighbouring disciplines, including political science, economics, public policy, and law.

Global Justice in Lutheran Political Theology

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58
Author(s):  
Carl-Henric Grenholm
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Sharp Distinction ◽  
Main Thesis ◽  
Theories Of Justice ◽  
Influential Theory

The purpose of this article is to examine the contributions that might be given by Lutheran political theology to the discourse on global justice. The article offers a critical examination of three different theories of global justice within political philosophy. Contractarian theories are criticized, and a thesis is that it is plausible to argue that justice can be understood as liberation from oppression. From this perspective the article gives an analysis of an influential theory of justice within Lutheran ethics. According to this theory justice is not an equal distribution but an arrangement where the subordinate respect the authority of those in power. This theory is related to a sharp distinction between law and gospel. The main thesis of the article is that Lutheran political theology should take a different approach if it aims to give a constructive contribution to theories of justice. This means that Lutheran ethics should not be based on Creation and reason alone – it should also be based on Christology and Eschatology.

THE PROPERTY EQUILIBRIUM IN A LIBERAL SOCIAL ORDER (OR HOW TO CORRECT OUR MORAL VISION)

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Gaus
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Moral Vision ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Philosophical Reflection ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Rational Reflection ◽  
Experimental Findings

AbstractThe “welcome return” to “substantive political philosophy” that Rawls's A Theory of Justice was said to herald has resulted in forty years of proposals seeking to show that philosophical reflection leads to the demonstrable truth of almost every and any conceivable view of the justice of property rights. Select any view—from the justice of unregulated capitalist markets to the most extreme forms of egalitarianism—and one will find that some philosophers have proclaimed that rational reflection uniquely leads to its justice. This is, I believe, a sort of ideological thinking masquerading as philosophizing. In this paper, using some tools from game theory as well as experimental findings, I seek to sketch a non-ideological approach to the question of the justification of property rights. On this approach the aim of political philosophy is, first and foremost, to reflect on whether our social rules of property are within the “optimal eligible set” of rules acceptable to all.

scholarly journals Idealizations and ideal policing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Monaghan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
The Core ◽  
Full Compliance ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Political Economic

Political philosophy often focuses on “major institutions” that make up the “basic structure” of society. These include political, economic, and social institutions. In this paper I argue first that policing plays a substantial role in generating the kinds of inequalities and problems that are concerns of social or structural justice, and therefore that police agencies qualify as a major institution. When we abandon full compliance or similar idealizations, it is clear that policing is not a concern secondary to, e.g., the electoral system or the scheme of property rights in a society. Nor, I argue, does maintaining full compliance or moral character idealizations obviate an active enforcement role. Eliminating that role from an idealized model society requires engaging in a methodologically and substantively unattractive amount of abstraction. The result is that an active enforcement role is at the core of a complete theory of justice rather than something that is significant only “downstream” from more fundamental issues.

Global Justice and Natural Resources

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-61
Author(s):  
Megan Blomfield
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Equal Division ◽  
Simple Argument ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Common Ownership ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Joint Ownership ◽  
Egalitarian Justice

This chapter starts by looking at what natural resources are and their place in a theory of justice. It identifies two forms that claims to natural resources tend to take: general claims and particular claims. General claims are then used to formulate a simple argument to show that natural resources are appropriate objects of egalitarian justice, because they are the subject of equal original claims. There follows a discussion of how best to understand Equal Original Claims, in terms of four understandings of original ownership that are common to Western political philosophy: No Ownership, Joint Ownership, Equal Division, and Common Ownership. No Ownership and Joint Ownership are dismissed on the basis that they are incompatible with Equal Original Claims, leaving Equal Division and Common Ownership as the two remaining contenders.

scholarly journals Zur Kritik der libertären Eigentumskonzeption

1981 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Koller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Entitlement Theory

AbstractNozick’s entitlement theory of justice is, besides Rawls’s theory, one of the most widely discussed and intellectually most attractive conceptions within the field of contemporary political philosophy. Nozick’s theory uses Locke's conception of the state of nature and of natural rights, and tries, starting from this point of view, to deliver a comprehensive systematisation of libertarian political ideals. This essay deals mainly with Nozick’s conception of property rights. The argument is put forward that the concept of exclusive and unrestrictable ownership of which Nozick makes use, doesn’t find any acceptable justification on the basis of his theory.

Contemporary Anglo-American Political Philosophy

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Klosko
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Death Certificate ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Robert Nozick ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Anglo American

According to a now familiar narrative, in the middle of the twentieth century, political philosophy was “dead,” but it has since been resurrected in a new form. Credit for the death certificate is given to Peter Laslett, who bemoaned the absence of major philosophers writing in English, like the tradition of thinkers from Thomas Hobbes to Bernard Bosanquet. According to many theorists, responsibility for the revival of political philosophy belongs to John Rawls. One of Rawls's most important contributions is the method of “reflective equilibrium.” In A Theory of Justice (1971), Rawls attempts to reconcile freedom and equality in a principled way, offering an account of “justice as fairness.” Three years after publication of Theory, Rawls's Harvard colleague Robert Nozick published Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), which is, after Theory, probably the most celebrated and widely discussed work in political philosophy in recent decades. This article explores contemporary Anglo-American political philosophy, the evolution of Rawls's thought, communitarianism, feminism and liberalism, multiculturalism, and global justice.

Utopophobia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Estlund
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Sound Theory ◽  
Theory Versus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Guidance

Throughout the history of political philosophy and politics, there has been continual debate about the roles of idealism versus realism. For contemporary political philosophy, this debate manifests in notions of ideal theory versus nonideal theory. Nonideal thinkers shift their focus from theorizing about full social justice, asking instead which feasible institutional and political changes would make a society more just. Ideal thinkers, on the other hand, question whether full justice is a standard that any society is likely ever to satisfy. And, if social justice is unrealistic, are attempts to understand it without value or importance, and merely utopian? This book argues against thinking that justice must be realistic, or that understanding justice is only valuable if it can be realized. The book does not offer a particular theory of justice, nor does it assert that justice is indeed unrealizable—only that it could be, and this possibility upsets common ways of proceeding in political thought. The book's author engages critically with important strands in traditional and contemporary political philosophy that assume a sound theory of justice has the overriding, defining task of contributing practical guidance toward greater social justice. Along the way, it counters several tempting perspectives, including the view that inquiry in political philosophy could have significant value only as a guide to practical political action, and that understanding true justice would necessarily have practical value, at least as an ideal arrangement to be approximated. Demonstrating that unrealistic standards of justice can be both sound and valuable to understand, the book stands as a trenchant defense of ideal theory in political philosophy.

scholarly journals A DEFENSE OF HUMEAN PROPERTY THEORY

Legal Theory ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Ira K. Lindsay
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Moral Claims ◽  
Humean Theory

ABSTRACT Two rival approaches to property rights dominate contemporary political philosophy: Lockean natural rights and egalitarian theories of distributive justice. This article defends a third approach, which can be traced to the work of David Hume. Unlike Lockean rights, Humean property rights are not grounded in pre-institutional moral entitlements. In contrast to the egalitarian approach, which begins with highly abstract principles of distributive justice, Humean theory starts with simple property conventions and shows how more complex institutions can be justified against a background of settled property rights. Property rights allow people to coordinate their use of scarce resources. For property rules to serve this function effectively, certain questions must be considered settled. Treating existing property entitlements as having prima facie validity facilitates cooperation between people who disagree about distributive justice. Lockean and egalitarian theories endorse moral claims that threaten to unsettle property conventions and undermine social cooperation.

Forms of Injustice and Regression

2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 (4) ◽  
pp. 314-328
Author(s):  
Regina Kreide
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Border Politics ◽  
Communicative Power

AbstractOver the last years, the debate over global justice has moved beyond the divide between statist and cosmopolitan, as well as ideal and non-ideal approaches. Rather, a turn to empirical realities has taken place, claiming that normative political philosophy and theory need to address empirical facts about global poverty and wealth. The talk argues that some aspects of the earlier “Critical Theory” and its notions of negativity, praxis, and communicative power allow for a non-empiristic link between normative theory and a well-informed social science analysis that is based on experienced injustice. The analysis of border politics and housing politics will serve as an example for a critical theory of global injustice that addresses regressive as well as emancipative developments in society.

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