Loading...
From political philosophy to messy empirical reality
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Editors
Keywords
General Social Sciences
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27436
Abstract
This chapter describes how philosophical theorizing about justice can be connected with empirical research in the social sciences. We begin by drawing on some received distinctions between ideal and non-ideal approaches to theorizing justice along several different dimensions, showing how non-ideal approaches are needed to address normative aspects of real-world problems and to provide practical guidance. We argue that there are advantages to a transitional approach to justice focusing on manifest injustices, including the fact that it enables us to set aside some reasonable disagreements about justice. The ‘bottom-up’ approach we advocate, for which we borrow Wolff’s term ‘real-world political philosophy’, is an empirically-informed normative analysis that attends to specific, identifiable injustices, and thus is partial, though not isolationist. We illustrate our approach by considering how different models of the nature of disability suggest different kinds of remedy for injustices faced by persons living with disabilities. We reflect on the nature and significance of vulnerabilities, and we assess the role of public opinion in normative theorizing, suggesting a particular significance for the opinions and experiences of marginalized groups. We finally reflect on the relevance of European legal and institutional frameworks for theorizing justice in Europe.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Book chapter
Date
2020-11-20
Language
ISBN
9781839108471
9781839108488
9781839108488
Identifiers
10.4337/9781839108488.00010