Political Philosophy and Political Theory

23 Oct 2022 13:50

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Yet Another Inadequate Placeholder

I may as well confess here that while I find myself strongly on the side of a lot of causes that get described, these days, as "social justice", I find myself more and more puzzled as to exactly what constitutes social justice, and the proper borders between seeking a more justice society, and rectifying other social problems which, however awful, aren't injustices. (It's not like individual justice is transparent, of course.) This may not matter very much, and I strongly suspect it's a "me problem", but it does make me uneasy to see so many people seemingly certain of what social justice requires...

See also: Democracy; Feminism; Ernest Gellner; the Left; Plato; Karl Popper; Socialism; Totalitarianism, Its Intellectual and Social Roots

Recommended (misc.):
• al-Farabi, "The Political Regime" and Summary of Plato's Laws
• Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince and The Discourses on Livy
• Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom

To read:
• Gerald Gaus, The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse Society
• Joseph Heath, Cooperation and Social Justice
• David Miller, Principles of Social Justice [= "desert", "need", "equality"]
• Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice
• Ian Shapiro, Political Criticism