Ben Colburn
Biographic Data
| ID | 184994 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ben Colburn |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ben |
| FAMILY NAME | Colburn |
| SIGNATURE | BEN COLBURN |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1416-1844 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Palliative care‐based arguments against assisted dying
Opponents of legalised assisted dying often assert that palliative care is worse in countries where assisted dying has been legalised, and imply that legalised assisted dying makes palliative care worse. This study considers five versions of this claim: that it is difficulty to access expert palliative care in countries where assisted dying has been legalised, that those countries rank low in their quality of end‐of‐life care; that legalising ass…
Dramatic Vignettes in Moral Inquiry
Anthropologists and philosophers have typically been skeptical about the use of dramatic vignettes in the study of ethics, in particular targeting three characteristic features of such devices-stylization, simplification, and selectivity-and arguing that they undermine ethical inquiry. I argue that this skepticism misconstrues the aims of arguments that incorporate such devices. Rather than seeing them as botched attempts at historical or scienti…
The Routledge Handbook of Autonomy
Our values change. What we value, want, desire, prefer, and how much; for nearly everyone, these will be different at different times in their life. These changes can be gradual or abrupt; they can be long-lasting or short-lived; and they can be induced by forces outside yourself or they can come from within or they can have no specific catalyst at all. Such preference change raises a number of questions for our theorising about rational choice, …
Disability‐based arguments against assisted dying laws
Some of the most common arguments against legalizing assisted dying are based on appealing to the rights of people with disabilities. This article identifies and responds to those arguments, including that people with disabilities univocally oppose assisted dying laws; that those laws harm people with disabilities, or show disrespect; and that those laws undermine other vital aspects of healthcare. Drawing on philosophical argument, as well as on…
Routledge Handbook of Autonomy
Hypothetical Insurance and Higher Education: Hypothetical Insurance and Higher Education
What level of government subsidy of higher education is justified, in what form, and for what reasons?We answer these questions by applying the hypothetical insurance approach, originally developed by Ronald Dworkin in his work on distributive justice.On this approach, when asking how to fund and deliver public services in a particular domain, we should seek to model what would be the outcome of a hypothetical insurance market: we stipulate that …
Responsibility and School Choice in Education: Responsibility and School Choice in Education
Consider the following argument for school choice, based on an appeal to the virtues of the market: allowing parents some measure of choice over their particular children’s education ultimately serves the interests of all children, because creating a market mechanism in state education will produce improvements through the same pressures that lead to greater efficiency and quality when markets are deployed in more familiar contexts. The argument …
Autonomy and Adaptive Preferences
Adaptive preference formation is the unconscious altering of our preferences in light of the options we have available. Jon Elster has argued that this is bad because it undermines our autonomy. I agree, but think that Elster's explanation of why is lacking. So, I draw on a richer account of autonomy to give the following answer. Preferences formed through adaptation are characterized by covert influence (that is, explanations of which an agent h…
Autonomy and Liberalism
"This book concerns the foundations and implications of a particular form of liberal political theory. Colburn argues that one should see liberalism as a political theory committed to the value of autonomy, understood as consisting in an agent deciding for oneself what is valuable and living life in accordance with that decision. Understanding liberalism this way offers solutions to various problems that beset liberal political theory, on various…
Anti-Perfectionisms and autonomy
Journal Article Anti-Perfectionisms and autonomy Get access Ben Colburn Ben Colburn Corpus Christi College Cambridge CB2 1RH, UK [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Analysis, Volume 70, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 247–256, https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anp171 Published: 12 January 2010
The legacy of H.L.A. Hart: Legal, Political, and Moral Philosophy
This text brings together contributions from 18 of the world's foremost legal and political philosophers to examine the lasting influence of H.L.A. Hart. The essays explore the major subjects of Hart's work: general jurisprudence, criminal responsibility rights, justice, causation and the foundations of liberalism.
Forbidden Ways of Life
I examine an objection against autonomy-minded liberalism sometimes made by philosophers such as John Rawls and William Galston, that it rules out ways of life which do not themselves value freedom or autonomy. This objection is incorrect, because one need not value autonomy in order to live an autonomous life. Hence autonomy-minded liberalism need not rule out such ways of life. I suggest a modified objection which does work, namely that autonom…
Debate: The Concept of Voluntariness
IN her work on the distinction between freedom and voluntariness, Serena Olsaretti suggests the following definition of voluntary action: an action is voluntary if it is not non-voluntary, and non-voluntary if it is performed because there are no acceptable alternatives, where ‘acceptable’ means conforming to some objective standard (which Olsaretti suggests might be well-being). \n \nOlsaretti suggests that ascriptions of responsibility are unde…
Autonomy and Adaptive Preferences
Adaptive preference formation is the unconscious altering of our preferences in light of the options we have available. Jon Elster has argued that this is bad because it undermines our autonomy. I agree, but think that Elster's explanation of why is lacking. So, I draw on a richer account of autonomy to give the following answer. Preferences formed through adaptation are characterized by covert influence (that is, explanations of which an agent h…
Debate: The Concept of Voluntariness
IN her work on the distinction between freedom and voluntariness, Serena Olsaretti suggests the following definition of voluntary action: an action is voluntary if it is not non-voluntary, and non-voluntary if it is performed because there are no acceptable alternatives, where ‘acceptable’ means conforming to some objective standard (which Olsaretti suggests might be well-being). \n \nOlsaretti suggests that ascriptions of responsibility are unde…
Responsibility and School Choice in Education: Responsibility and School Choice in Education
Consider the following argument for school choice, based on an appeal to the virtues of the market: allowing parents some measure of choice over their particular children’s education ultimately serves the interests of all children, because creating a market mechanism in state education will produce improvements through the same pressures that lead to greater efficiency and quality when markets are deployed in more familiar contexts. The argument …
Forbidden Ways of Life
I examine an objection against autonomy-minded liberalism sometimes made by philosophers such as John Rawls and William Galston, that it rules out ways of life which do not themselves value freedom or autonomy. This objection is incorrect, because one need not value autonomy in order to live an autonomous life. Hence autonomy-minded liberalism need not rule out such ways of life. I suggest a modified objection which does work, namely that autonom…
Debate: The Concept of Voluntariness
IN her work on the distinction between freedom and voluntariness, Serena Olsaretti suggests the following definition of voluntary action: an action is voluntary if it is not non-voluntary, and non-voluntary if it is performed because there are no acceptable alternatives, where ‘acceptable’ means conforming to some objective standard (which Olsaretti suggests might be well-being). \n \nOlsaretti suggests that ascriptions of responsibility are unde…
The legacy of H.L.A. Hart: Legal, Political, and Moral Philosophy
This text brings together contributions from 18 of the world's foremost legal and political philosophers to examine the lasting influence of H.L.A. Hart. The essays explore the major subjects of Hart's work: general jurisprudence, criminal responsibility rights, justice, causation and the foundations of liberalism.
Forbidden Ways of Life
I examine an objection against autonomy-minded liberalism sometimes made by philosophers such as John Rawls and William Galston, that it rules out ways of life which do not themselves value freedom or autonomy. This objection is incorrect, because one need not value autonomy in order to live an autonomous life. Hence autonomy-minded liberalism need not rule out such ways of life. I suggest a modified objection which does work, namely that autonom…
Autonomy and Liberalism
"This book concerns the foundations and implications of a particular form of liberal political theory. Colburn argues that one should see liberalism as a political theory committed to the value of autonomy, understood as consisting in an agent deciding for oneself what is valuable and living life in accordance with that decision. Understanding liberalism this way offers solutions to various problems that beset liberal political theory, on various…
Anti-Perfectionisms and autonomy
Journal Article Anti-Perfectionisms and autonomy Get access Ben Colburn Ben Colburn Corpus Christi College Cambridge CB2 1RH, UK [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Analysis, Volume 70, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 247–256, https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anp171 Published: 12 January 2010
Autonomy and Adaptive Preferences
Adaptive preference formation is the unconscious altering of our preferences in light of the options we have available. Jon Elster has argued that this is bad because it undermines our autonomy. I agree, but think that Elster's explanation of why is lacking. So, I draw on a richer account of autonomy to give the following answer. Preferences formed through adaptation are characterized by covert influence (that is, explanations of which an agent h…
Responsibility and School Choice in Education: Responsibility and School Choice in Education
Consider the following argument for school choice, based on an appeal to the virtues of the market: allowing parents some measure of choice over their particular children’s education ultimately serves the interests of all children, because creating a market mechanism in state education will produce improvements through the same pressures that lead to greater efficiency and quality when markets are deployed in more familiar contexts. The argument …
Hypothetical Insurance and Higher Education: Hypothetical Insurance and Higher Education
What level of government subsidy of higher education is justified, in what form, and for what reasons?We answer these questions by applying the hypothetical insurance approach, originally developed by Ronald Dworkin in his work on distributive justice.On this approach, when asking how to fund and deliver public services in a particular domain, we should seek to model what would be the outcome of a hypothetical insurance market: we stipulate that …
The Routledge Handbook of Autonomy
Our values change. What we value, want, desire, prefer, and how much; for nearly everyone, these will be different at different times in their life. These changes can be gradual or abrupt; they can be long-lasting or short-lived; and they can be induced by forces outside yourself or they can come from within or they can have no specific catalyst at all. Such preference change raises a number of questions for our theorising about rational choice, …
Disability‐based arguments against assisted dying laws
Some of the most common arguments against legalizing assisted dying are based on appealing to the rights of people with disabilities. This article identifies and responds to those arguments, including that people with disabilities univocally oppose assisted dying laws; that those laws harm people with disabilities, or show disrespect; and that those laws undermine other vital aspects of healthcare. Drawing on philosophical argument, as well as on…
Routledge Handbook of Autonomy
Dramatic Vignettes in Moral Inquiry
Anthropologists and philosophers have typically been skeptical about the use of dramatic vignettes in the study of ethics, in particular targeting three characteristic features of such devices-stylization, simplification, and selectivity-and arguing that they undermine ethical inquiry. I argue that this skepticism misconstrues the aims of arguments that incorporate such devices. Rather than seeing them as botched attempts at historical or scienti…
Palliative care‐based arguments against assisted dying
Opponents of legalised assisted dying often assert that palliative care is worse in countries where assisted dying has been legalised, and imply that legalised assisted dying makes palliative care worse. This study considers five versions of this claim: that it is difficulty to access expert palliative care in countries where assisted dying has been legalised, that those countries rank low in their quality of end‐of‐life care; that legalising ass…
Political science (9 works) · Law (7 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Autonomy (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Economics (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (3 works)