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Journal ArticleDOI

Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality

01 Jan 1985-The Philosophical Review (Basil Blackwell)-Vol. 83, Iss: 1, pp 142
TL;DR: Lawler as mentioned in this paper argued that being for the freeze means that one is not for disarmament, which is hardly a rational position in the sense that it is suspect if not immoral, in the eyes of some.
Abstract: that a plurality of the American Catholic bishops endorse a nuclear freeze (p. 4), saying that they are thus "taking their stance with Moscow,55 which is for a freeze, and not with the Vatican, which "is still in favor of disarmament?not a freeze.55 To make any sense at all, Mr. Lawler must mean that being for the freeze means that one is not for disarmament? hardly a rational position. One recalls here the arguments, during the 19305s and 19405s, that being for racial justice in the United States was suspect if not immoral, in the eyes of some, because the communists also favored it.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the role of equity norms in German sustainable development policy and related discourse, focusing on the issue of global climate change, and found that the norm of global fairness enjoys broad (rhetorical) support by actors and the public.
Abstract: The paper attempts to shed some light on the kind of role equity norms play in German sustainable development policy and the related discourse, focusing on the issue of global climate change. Especially the tensions between the public discussion of equity among and within nations are investigated. Attitudes and commitments of the general public and the main actor groups towards global climate change policies and related equity issues are analyzed. One of the central findings of the analysis is that the norm of global fairness enjoys broad (rhetorical) support by all actor groups and the public. However, the support by the public must be characterized as uninformed consent because the effects of the various global climate policies within Germany are either not discussed or played down by the proponents of a progressive climate change policy. The debates are framed by two different but overlapping discourses informed by the concepts of sustainable development or ecological modernization. While with respect to global climate change policy the sustainable development discourse dominates at the programmatic level (concerned with norms, values and fairness principles), it is clearly the concept of ecological modernization that underlies the concrete policies.

25 citations

DOI
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: What human dignity entails in elderly care, and what kinds of threats and possibilities social robotics may bring with it, are asked.
Abstract: Attitudes towards robots in elderly care are systematically sceptical: a central worry is that a robot caretaker will rob the elderly of their human contacts. Are such worries justified? Will robotics change something relevant concerning the human dignity of elders? Are some specific robots especially dubious, or can robotics, as a generic technology, change the practices of care so that human dignity would be under threat? In this paper, we ask what human dignity entails in elderly care, and what kinds of threats and possibilities social robotics may bring with it. Earlier studies have approached this question, for example, in light of the capability theories of human life, consistent with human dignity. Our starting point are theories of recognition of persons, which have distinguished three main kinds of needs for recognition: the need for respect as a person, the need to feel esteemed as a contributor to the common good, and the need to be loved.

25 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that geography is well placed to help to address this defect and propose that geography teaching in higher education could have an important part to play in the reassertion of a moral dimension in how people come to understand the world and play a part in its re-creation.
Abstract: Moral issues tend to be marginalised in contemporary education. This paper argues that geography is well placed to help to address this defect. Some cases with an obvious geographical dimension are outlined, to show how they might be used to open up broader moral problems. Geography teaching in higher education could have an important part to play in the reassertion of a moral dimension in how people come to understand the world and play a part in its re‐creation.

25 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that immigration controls fail a fundamental moral test and represent the ethical failure of the liberal project of moral equality, and that any liberal attempt to morally justify immigration controls must fail through committing the basic logical error of "begging the question".
Abstract: In this paper I re-state the egalitarian argument against the morality of immigration controls: such limits violate the central ethical commitment to moral equality. This means that immigration controls fail a fundamental moral test and represent the ethical failure of the liberal project of moral equality. I set this re-statement against recent arguments about what moral equality means, specifically Christopher Heath Wellman's use of Elizabeth Anderson's notion of relational equality. Wellman believes that Anderson's ideas seriously damage the egalitarian argument, but I argue that this is a misreading of her account. I conclude that any liberal attempt to morally justify immigration controls must fail through committing the basic logical error of ‘begging the question’.

25 citations