scholarly journals Does luck egalitarianism lose its appeal in the face of genetic engineering?

Bioethica ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Areti Theophilopoulou (Αρετή Θεοφιλοπούλου)
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Luck Egalitarianism ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
The Face ◽  
Genetic Interventions ◽  
Death Knell ◽  
Crucial Assumption

It has been suggested that the era of genetic interventions will sound the death knell for luck egalitarianism, as it will blur the line between chance and choice, on which theories of distributive justice often rest. By examining the threats posed to these theories, a crucial assumption is exposed; it is assumed that a commitment to the neutralisation of the effects of luck implies the endorsement of even the most morally controversial enhancements. In antithesis, I argue that an attractive theory of luck egalitarianism, Dworkinian liberal equality, enables us to deduce plausible implications for genetic engineering. By focusing on the abstract moral commitments at the heart of Dworkin’s theory, a twofold purpose is served. First, they reveal in what ways the criticisms misfire, thereby safeguarding luck egalitarianism. Second, Dworkinian luck egalitarianism is further strengthened, as it produces plausible guidelines for public policy on genetic engineering in liberal societies.

Torts and Other Wrongs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Strict Liability ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Reasonable Person ◽  
Reasonable Person Standard ◽  
The Law

Torts and Other Wrongs is a collection of eleven of the author’s essays on the theory of the law of torts and its place in the law more generally. Two new essays accompany nine previously published pieces, a number of which are already established classics of theoretical writing on private law. Together they range across the distinction between torts and other wrongs, the moral significance of outcomes, the nature and role of corrective and distributive justice, the justification of strict liability, the nature of the reasonable person standard, and the role of public policy in private law adjudication. Though focused on the law of torts, the wide-ranging analysis in each chapter will speak to theorists of private law more generally.

scholarly journals Behavioral brittleness: the case for strategic behavioral public policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Ruth Schmidt ◽  
Katelyn Stenger
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Impact Problem

Abstract Despite widespread recognition that behavioral public policy (BPP) needs to move beyond nudging if the field is to achieve more significant impact, problem-solving approaches remain optimized to achieve tactical success and are evaluated by short-term metrics with the assumption of stable systems. As a result, current methodologies may contribute to the development of solutions that appear well formed but become ‘brittle’ in the face of more complex contexts if they fail to consider important contextual cues, broader system forces, and emergent conditions, which can take three distinct forms: contextual, systemic, and anticipatory brittleness. The Covid-19 pandemic and vaccination rollout present an opportunity to identify and correct interventional brittleness with a new methodological approach – strategic BPP (SBPP) – that can inform the creation of more resilient solutions by embracing more diverse forms of evidence and applied foresight, designing interventions within ecosystems, and iteratively developing solutions. To advance the case for adopting a SBPP and ‘roughly right’ modes of inquiry, we use the Covid-19 vaccination rollout to define a new methodological roadmap, while also acknowledging that taking a more strategic approach may challenge current BPP norms.

scholarly journals Debunking: A Meta-Analysis of the Psychological Efficacy of Messages Countering Misinformation

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1531-1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-pui Sally Chan ◽  
Christopher R. Jones ◽  
Kathleen Hall Jamieson ◽  
Dolores Albarracín
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Policy Goal ◽  
The Face

This meta-analysis investigated the factors underlying effective messages to counter attitudes and beliefs based on misinformation. Because misinformation can lead to poor decisions about consequential matters and is persistent and difficult to correct, debunking it is an important scientific and public-policy goal. This meta-analysis ( k = 52, N = 6,878) revealed large effects for presenting misinformation ( ds = 2.41–3.08), debunking ( ds = 1.14–1.33), and the persistence of misinformation in the face of debunking ( ds = 0.75–1.06). Persistence was stronger and the debunking effect was weaker when audiences generated reasons in support of the initial misinformation. A detailed debunking message correlated positively with the debunking effect. Surprisingly, however, a detailed debunking message also correlated positively with the misinformation-persistence effect.

The Legal Effect of Illegal Contracts

1942 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glanville L. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
The Face ◽  
Legal Duty ◽  
Legal Consequences

The term ‘illegal contract’ is sanctioned by usage and is adopted in the title of this article for the sake of brevity; but it is not a very satisfactory expression. If a contract is a legal obligation, ‘illegal contract’ is a contradiction in terms. To say that a contract is illegal seems, on the face of it, to be no more than a clumsy way of saying that an agreement is void of legal consequences. There is, however, another possible interpretation of the term ‘illegal contract,’ namely, that it is an agreement the entry into which or the performance of which (on one or both sides) involves a breach of legal duty, or runs counter to morality or public policy. The illegality is not in the obligation, but in the making of the agreement or in the performance of it. It is in this sense that the term is used in the present article, and, so understood, there is no paradox in asking whether an illegal contract can have a legal effect.

Consequentialism, Deontology, Contractualism, and Equality

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Quong
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Luck Egalitarianism

This chapter advances two main claims. First, that the distinction between consequentialism and deontology, although widely adopted, is illusory and only serves to obscure some of the genuine disputes underlying central debates in distributive justice. Second, that although luck egalitarianism and democratic egalitarianism are often presented as rival conceptions of justice—in particular, as offering competing accounts of the grounds of distributive justice—this may be a mistake, since this construal makes each view less plausible than it otherwise might be. Instead, the chapter proposes an alternative view where luck egalitarianism and democratic egalitarianism can be understood as complementary answers to different questions. Luck egalitarianism identifies one of the fundamental grounds of justice and injustice, whereas democratic egalitarianism is better conceptualized as offering a contractualist account of what it is for something to be just or unjust.

Social Justicitis

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tomasi
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Adverse Reaction ◽  
Allergic Reaction ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
Classical Liberalism ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Bee Sting ◽  
Adequacy Condition

This chapter examines what it calls “social justicitis”—a strongly negative, even allergic, reaction to the ideal of social or distributive justice. Social justicitis is a malady from which many defenders of private economic liberty suffer. For libertarians, arguments on behalf of social justice may be as threatening as a bee sting is to some people. In the case of classical liberals, social justicitis arises as an adverse reaction to talk about social justice at the level of public policy. The chapter first considers the notion of distributional adequacy condition from the perspective of classical liberalism and libertarianism before discussing the arguments of classical liberals and libertarians regarding property and the poor. It also explores F. A. Hayek's critique of social justice and the implications of his theory of spontaneous order with respect to distributional ideals.

Compassion as a Political Virtue

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Whitebrook
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The place of compassion in political thought and practice is debatable. This debate can be clarified by stipulating ‘compassion’ as referring to the practice of acting on the feeling of ‘pity’; in addition, compassion might best be understood politically speaking as properly exercised towards vulnerability rather than suffering. Working with these understandings, I contrast Martha Nussbaum's account of the criteria for the exercise of compassion in modern democracies with the treatment of compassion in Toni Morrison's novels in order to suggest how compassion can be viewed politically. In respect of distributive justice and public policy, in both cases compassion might modify the strict application of principles in the light of knowledge of particulars, suggesting an enlarged role for discretion in the implementation of social justice. More generally, compassion's focus on particulars and the interpersonal draws attention to the importance of imagination and judgement. The latter returns a consideration of compassion to the question of the relationship of compassion to justice. In the political context, although strict criteria for compassion are inappropriate, principles of justice might work as modifying compassion (rather than vice-versa, as might be expected).

Enquête sur le rapport des journalistes à la démocratie : le rôle de médiateur en question

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Gingras
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Media ◽  
Selection Of

Résumé.Dans ce texte, nous tentons d'évaluer le rôle sociopolitique des journalistes en posant les éléments fondamentaux d'une conceptualisation du rôle des médias en démocratie et en analysant les résultats d'une recherche empirique sur l'engagement des journalistes envers la démocratie menée de l'été 2008 au printemps 2010. Notre étude prend appui sur la dichotomie entre un rôle actif des médias et un rôle instrumental face au système politique, dichotomie que nous faisons porter sur les journalistes. Nous prétendons que les médias et les journalistes jouent le rôle de « médiateurs » dans les sociétés libérales, c'est-à-dire d'agents individuels ou collectifs par qui transitent des messages explicites ou implicites; ces agents ajoutent une couche de sens par diverses méthodes dont la sélection des nouvelles, la hiérarchisation des sujets ou le cadrage de personnes ou d'événements.Abstract.This paper aims to assess the sociopolitical role of journalists through a conceptual approach linking media and democracy and through an analysis of the data resulting from an investigation of journalists' commitment to democracy that was conducted from the summer of 2008 to the spring of 2010. Our study is founded on the dichotomy between an active role for the media and an instrumental one in the face of the political system, and this dichotomy is applied to journalists. We believe that the media and journalists function as “mediators” in liberal societies, that is, as individual or collective agents through whom explicit or implicit messages pass; these agents add a layer of signification by diverse methods, among which are the selection of news, the categorization of issues or the framing of individuals or events.

Public Policy Issues Affecting the Homeless in America

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-21
Author(s):  
Margaret Boone ◽  
Thomas Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Educational Preparation ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
The Face ◽  
Multiple Issues

The issue of homelessness symbolizes and incorporates some of the most urgent public concerns in the United States today, and for the next several decades. Homelessness represents an intersection of five major public policy areas: first, the issue of growing poverty in the face of industrial prosperity, a widening income gap between rich and poor, and the disparity between educational preparation and occupational requirements; second, the issues raised by lifestyle-related health epidemics such as drug addiction and multi-substance abuse; third, the issue of mental health, which stubbornly remains one of America's major unrecognized health problems, with literally millions of organic, cognitive, personality, and affective disorders left untreated; fourth, the issue of housing, and whether and how the provision of dwellings is central to American requirements for "a human community" and a basic right to "the pursuit of happiness"; and fifth, the multiple issues raised by aging and long-term care, because as the nation's population ages, more and more of the elderly will be at risk for becoming homeless and will exert enormous pressure on government to provide long-term care.

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