What Do We Deserve?: A Reader on Justice and Desert (Routledge Advances in International)

Pojman, Louis P. and Owen McLeod, Editors / Contributors: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Adam Smith, Kant, Mill, W.D. Ross, Joel Feinberg, John Kleinig, David Miller, Julian Lamont, Galen Strawson, Harry Frankfurt, David Miller, Fred Feldman, Herbert Spiegelberg, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Michael Sandel, Owen McLeod, Samuel Scheffler, Michael A. Slote, Norman Daniels, Robert Goodin, Robert Young, Fred Feldman, Owen McLeod, Louis Pojman, Shelly Kagan

ISBN 10: 0195122186 / ISBN 13: 9780195122183

Published by Oxford University Press, New York Oxford, 1999

About this Item

317pp., ix. '1' in number line. Notes at end of essays; Bibliography, pp. 315-317. Contributions: Historical Interpretation of Desert: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Adam Smith, Kant, Mill, W.D. Ross; Contemporary Interpretations of Desert: Joel Feinberg, John Kleinig, David Miller, Julian Lamont, Galen Strawson, Harry Frankfurt, David Miller, Fred Feldman, Herbert Spiegelberg, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Michael Sandel, Owen McLeod, Samuel Scheffler, Michael A. Slote, Norman Daniels, Robert Goodin, Robert Young, Fred Feldman, Owen McLeod, Louis Pojman, Shelly Kagan. Glossy medium blue wraps with large silver title lettering on top half front cover; subtitle in smaller white letters across middle front cover; editor names in smaller silver across bottom front cover. Flawless. (NOT POD; No remainder mark; NO previous owner name; Clean Text.).

Seller Inventory # 001745

Bibliographic Details

• Title: What Do We Deserve?: A Reader on Justice and Desert (Routledge Advances in International)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, New York Oxford
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195122186
• ISBN 13: 9780195122183
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The concept of desert, which once enjoyed a central place in political and ethical theory, has been relegated to the margins of much of contemporary theory, if not excluded altogether. Recently a renewed interest in the topic has emerged, and several philosophers have argued that the notion merits a more central place in political and ethical theory. Some of these philosophers contend that justice exists to the extent that people receive exactly what they deserve, while others argue that desert should replace such considerations as rights, need, and equality as the basis for distributions. Still others argue that morality involves a fitting match between one's moral character and a degree of happiness. All of these positions have encountered opposition from egalitarians, libertarians, and those who are skeptical about the coherence of the concept of desert.
The first anthology of its kind, What Do We Deserve? is a balanced collection of readings that brings sharply opposing positions and arguments together and stimulates debate over the meaning and significance of desert in current thought. The book begins with eight classical readings on desert (by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Smith, Kant, Mill, Sidgwick, and Ross), and later turns to contemporary interpretations of the issue. The selections examine the concept itself, analyze its relationship to the ideas of freedom and responsibility, engage in the debate between John Rawls and his critics on the merits of desert, and, finally, study the wider role and significance of desert in political and ethical theory.

About the Author

Louis P. Pojman is at United States Military Academy, West Point. Owen McLeod is at Yale University.