This is Political Philosophy is an accessible and well-balanced introduction to the main issues in political philosophy written by an author team from the fields of both philosophy and politics. This text connects issues at the core of political philosophy with current, live debates in policy, politics, and law and addresses different ideals of political organization, such as democracy, liberty, equality, justice, and happiness. Written with great clarity, This is Political Philosophy is accessible and engaging to those who have little or no prior knowledge of political philosophy and is supported with supplemental pedagogical and instructor material on the This Is Philosophy series site.
Available at https://www.wiley.com/en-us/thisisphilosophy/thisispoliticalphilosophyanintroduction
Table of Content
How to Use this Book xi
Preface xiii
Part I The Problem of Authority 1
1 Happiness 3
Doing Political Philosophy 4
Happiness, Welfare, and the Aims of Government 5
If You’re Happy Do You Know It? 5
The Pursuit of Happiness 6
Whose happiness? 7
Can you measure pleasure? 8
Future happiness 10
Pleasure and pain 11
Is happiness fulfilling your desires? 12
Do the ends justify the means? 14
Nozick’s Experience Machine 14
Happiness and virtue 15
The case of John Stuart Mill 17
Capabilities 18
Conflicts between liberty and happiness 22
Conflicts between equality and happiness 22
Happiness and Government 23
Happiness and Public Goods 24
Free Riding and Small Contributions 25
Philosophical objections 26
Should we evaluate political institutions according to their ability to make people happy? 27
References and Further Reading 28
Online Resources 30
2 Freedom 31
The Meaning of Freedom 34
The Fundamental Question 34
What Is Freedom? And Who Is Free? 35
Subjective and objective freedom 36
What counts as restraining freedom? 37
Freedom and consent 38
Republican liberty 39
Private freedom and public freedom 40
Negative and positive liberty 41
Paternalism, the Harm Principle, and Moralism 42
Paternalism 42
The harm principle 44
Moralism 48
Can (and should) we avoid moralism? 50
Conclusion 51
References and Further Reading 52
Online Resources 53
3 Equality 54
Introduction 55
How Unequal Are People in the United States? 56
Against Equality: A Politics of Procrustes? 57
Unequal Treatment and Discrimination 59
Equality as a Baseline? 61
Equality of Resources and Luck Egalitarianism 62
First objection: Disabilities 62
Second objection: Slavery of the talented 63
Third objection: Expensive tastes 63
Equality of Opportunity 64
Should we level down? 66
What Does Equality of Opportunity Require? 67
Inequalities in the Real World 68
Inequality or Deprivation? 71
Is Sufficiency Enough? 73
Complex Equality 73
Race, Gender, and the Social Construction of Inequalities 75
Affirmative Action 76
Conclusion 78
References and Further Reading 78
Online Resources 80
4 Justice 81
Justice: A Brief Introduction 82
Rawls’s Theory of Justice 83
The original principle and the veil of ignorance 84
Rawls’s two principles of justice 85
The Libertarian Critique: Individual Liberty Restricts Redistribution 87
Utilitarian Critique: An Alternative Rationale for Redistribution 91
Feminist Critique: The Public–Private Distinction and Power Relations 93
Communitarian Critique: Alternatives to Individualism 96
Cosmopolitan Critique: The Demands of Global Justice 97
Conclusion 99
References and Further Reading 99
Online Resources 101
Part II Core Values in Political Philosophy 103
5 Democracy 105
Democracy and Political Self?]Governance 107
What Is Democracy? 108
Who Gets to Participate? 108
Constitutional Democracy and Rights 110
Sources of rights 111
Claim and liberty rights 113
Interest and choice theories of rights 114
Benefits of Democracy: The Instrumental Case 115
Would a kind dictator be a bad thing? 115
Do the people know best? 116
Can representation help? 117
Is Democratic Self?]Governance Intrinsically Valuable? 118
Is There a Right to Democratic Self?]Governance? 119
What Are the Implications of a Right to Democratic Self?]Governance? 120
Voting and Representation: Interests or Ideals? 122
Does Democracy Rest on a Paradox? 123
Deliberative Democracy as a Solution? 125
Distorting Democracy: Persistent Minorities and Electoral Inequalities 126
Persistent minorities 126
Electoral inequalities 126
Do Democracies Decline and Fall? 128
References and Further Reading 130
Online Resources 131
6 The Obligation to Obey the Law 132
Breaking the Law 135
Motives for breaking the law 135
Ways of breaking the law 136
Unjust laws 137
Are we obligated just because it is a law? 137
How strong are our legal obligations? 139
Breaking the Law: A “How to” Guide 140
Civil disobedience 140
Violence 141
What should be on the menu? 143
What should we choose from the menu? 143
Principles for ideal and nonideal agents 144
Do We Have an Obligation at All? 147
Consent 147
Gratitude 150
Fairness 150
Duty 151
Membership 152
Conclusion 152
References and Further Reading 153
Online Resources 154
7 Political Violence: War, Torture, and Punishment 155
Umkhonto we Sizwe 157
What Is Violence? 159
When (If Ever) Is Violence Justified? 161
Pacifism 162
Gandhi’s pacifism 163
Russell’s “relative pacifism” 163
Ius ad bellum: “Just War” and the Justification of Large?]Scale Violence 164
Testing Just War Theory 166
Vagueness 167
Manipulability 167
Ius in bello: Justice in the Conduct of War 168
Cultural Conflicts and the Laws of War 170
Pushing the Limits, I: Preemptive War 171
Pushing the Limits, II: When Are Captured Combatants “Prisoners of War?” 172
Pushing the Limits, III: Torture, “Enhanced Interrogation, ” and Ticking Bombs 173
Punishment 175
Rationales for punishment 176
Positive future consequences 176
Desert 177
Sending a message 178
War, torture, and punishment in political context 179
References and Further Reading 180
Online Resources 182
Part III Specific Topics 183
8 Who Counts? 185
Who Gets Justice? 187
The Guano Ring 188
Animals 189
Moral Standing and Moral Personhood 191
Degrees of Moral Standing? The Constitutive View 195
Comparative Moral Standing: The Constitutive View 195
Comparing Characteristics and Abilities 196
Objections to the Constitutive View 197
Hard Case I: Fertilized Ova and Fetuses 198
Hard Case II: Childhood and Disability 201
Hard Case III: Distant Peoples and Future Generations 204
Hard Case IV: Posthumans? 205
Hard Case V: Ecosystems and the Natural World 205
Upshot 208
References and Further Reading 208
Online Resources 209
9 Religion and Politics 210
Religion and Politics 213
Is Religion Special? 214
The limits of toleration 216
Neutrality and religion 218
Neutrality of intent 219
Exemptions for nonreligious reasons 221
Multiculturalism 222
Justifications for multiculturalism 223
Which policies would multiculturalism recommend? 224
Criticisms of multiculturalism 225
Freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, or freedom of culture? 226
Is Religion Suspect in Politics? 227
Four sample views on the environment 228
Reasons everyone can accept 229
Overlapping consensus 230
Should religion and philosophy be treated the same? 230
Arguing fairly 232
Conclusion 233
References and Further Reading 233
Online Resources 234
10 Money, Lies, and Political Corruption 236
Lying Politicians 238
What is a lie? 238
Why do people lie? 240
Utility 240
Intentions 241
Hugo Grotius and the rights approach 241
Virtue 242
A license to lie? 242
Sneaky ways to win an election 243
When is lying justified? 245
Dirty hands 246
Bribery and Corruption 247
Is Blagojevich that different? 250
Individual versus institutional corruption 250
Campaign finance 251
Ethics and institutions 252
Just following orders 252
Who is responsible? 253
Compromise 254
Conclusion 254
References and Further Reading 255
Online Resources 257
Index 258
About the author
Alex Tuckness is a Professor at Iowa State University in the departments of Political Science and Philosophy. His research focuses on toleration, mercy, punishment, international humanitarianism, and public service ethics. He is the author of Locke and the Legislative Point of View (2002) and The Decline of Mercy in Public Life (with John Michael Parrish, 2014) as well as numerous articles.
Clark Wolf is Professor at Iowa State University in the departments of Philosophy and Political Science. His research focuses on issues in the theory of justice, the philosophy of law, and bioethics. His work on law, intergenerational justice, political liberalism, intellectual property, reproductive ethics, and environmental ethics have appeared in Ethics and other major journals.
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