CONTENTS
- 1 Introduction Preface xi
- The methods of ethics and political philosophy
- A methodological impasse?
- Reflective equilibrium
- Political philosophy
- 2 Utilitarianism
- The foundations of utilitarianism
- Formal theory
- Value theory
- Utilitarian political philosophy
- Liberty
- Rights
- Distributive justice
- The state
- Conclusion
- 3 Liberty
- Introduction
- Liberty, liberalism, libertarianism
- Analysis
- Isaiah Berlin: negative and positive liberty
- The republican theory of freedom
- The value of freedom
- Freedom of action
- Autonomy
- Moral freedom
- Toleration
- Free states and free citizens
- Democratic freedom
- Civil liberty
- Mill’s harm principle
- Supplementary principles
- Conclusion
- 4 Rights
- Introduction
- Analysis and definition
- Preliminaries
- Hohfeld’s classification
- The justification of rights
- Lockean themes: modes of ownership
- Autonomy again
- Rights and interests
- Rights and utility
- The no-theory theory
- 5 Distributive justice
- Entitlement
- Nozick’s theory of entitlement
- F.A. Hayek
- Private property
- Human needs
- Equality of what?
- John Rawls’s theory of justice
- Justice as fairness
- The Original Position
- The principles of justice
- Desert
- The communitarian challenge
- 6 Political obligation
- The problems
- Anarchism and communitarianism
- Consent and contract
- Original contracts
- Express consent
- Tacit consent
- Quasi-consent
- Hypothetical consent and hypothetical contract
- The benefits of good government
- The principle of fairness
- Gratitude and good government
- Conclusion
- 7 Democracy
- Introduction
- Rousseau: freedom, equality and the general will
- Direct and representative democracy
- Democracy and majority tyranny
- Democracy, deliberation and disagreement
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index