Description
Book SynopsisSamuel Freeman is a leading political philosopher and one of the foremost authorities on the works of John Rawls. Liberalism and Distributive Justice offers a series of Freeman''s essays in contemporary political philosophy on three different forms of liberalism--classical liberalism, libertarianism, and the high liberal tradition--and their relation to capitalism, the welfare state, and economic justice.
Trade ReviewThis is an excellent book that advances our understanding of the liberal project in general and the Rawlsian liberal project in particular. It will be of great benefit to anyone interested in liberalism, justice, and the political philosophy of John Rawls. * Collis Tahzib, The University of Southern California, Ethics *
[These] essays are of admirable clarity, arguing for their positions in meticulous detail. For those interested in a comprehensive overview of Freeman's understanding of Rawlsian justice, the collection is likely to be an extremely valuable resource, not least for teaching. * Lisa Herzog, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
The papers in Liberalism and Distributive Justice usually begin from an interpretative question about Rawls; but that is rarely where they end up. The core of the book takes forward the Rawlsian project by seriously engaging with its aim: the development of a realistically utopian private property system that is not capitalist...Given the extent of the secondary literature on Rawls the comparative neglect of this topic has been surprising. * Alan Thomas, Philosophy and Public Issues *
Sam Freeman makes a novel argument for property-owning democracy over welfare-state capitalism...which is a proposed friendly amendment to Rawls's conception of fair equality of opportunity * William Edmundson, Philosophy and Public Issues *
Samuel Freeman's Liberalism and Distributive Justice addresses and corrects a number of confusions that have characterized accounts of Rawlsian justice and provides the foundations for a clear understanding of the logic underlying justice as fairness. * Alexander Kaufman, Philosophy and Public Issues *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction Part I: Liberalism, Libertarianism, and Economic Justice 1. Capitalism in the Classical and High Liberal Traditions 2. Illiberal Libertarians: Why Libertarianism is not a Liberal View Part II: Distributive Justice and the Difference Principle 3. Rawls on Distributive Justice and the Difference Principle 4. Property-Owning Democracy and the Difference Principle 5. Private Law and Rawls's Principles of Justice Part III: Liberal Institutions and Distributive Justice 6. The Social and Institutional Bases of Distributive Justice 7. The Basic Structure of Society as The Primary Subject of Justice 8. Ideal Theory and the Justice of Institutions 9. Constructivism, Facts, and Moral Justification References Index
