Steven Wall
Biographic Data
| ID | 3973545 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steven Wall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steven |
| FAMILY NAME | Wall |
| SIGNATURE | WALL S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bowling Green State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6681-2808 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 11 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Perfectionism, Justice, and Human Flourishing
The Anatomy of Justice
On the opening page of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, readers are told that “justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.” If a social arrangement is unjust, then it must be abolished or reformed. It cannot be redeemed by its realization of other values or ideals. These famous remarks, which are immediately qualified by Rawls as expressed too strongly, are perplexing on reflection. Either the remarks e…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy
This is the eleventh volume of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy. Since its revival in the 1970s, political philosophy has been a vibrant field in philosophy, one that intersects with jurisprudence, normative economics, political theory in political science departments, and just war theory. Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy aims to publish some of the best contemporary work in political philosophy and these closely related subfields. Th…
The Subjective/Objective Distinction in Well-Being
How should we understand the fundamental difference between objective and subjective theories of well-being? Authors typically presuppose some understanding of the divide but don’t do much to explain why that understanding is better than its rivals or gets at the heart of the distinction. We explicate criteria for a better account of the divide and use such criteria to critique extant understandings of the divide. We then propose and defend a new…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 10
Natural Aristocracy, Instrumentalism, Equality and Excellence
Tongdong Bai's Against Political Equality presents an interpretation of Confucian political morality, a critique of political equality and an argument in support of a form of meritocratic instrumentalism for politics. This paper sympathetically engages with Bai's discussion. It grants, but does not itself defend, his rejection of political equality. It distinguishes basic moral equality from the ideal of social equality, suggesting that Bai's vie…
A robust hybrid theory of well-being
Weighted Lotteries and the Allocation of Scarce Medications for Covid‐19
The allocation of vaccines and therapeutics for Covid‐19 obviously raises ethical questions, and physicians and ethicists have begun to address them. Writers have identified various criteria that should guide allocation decisions, but the criteria often conflict and need to be balanced against one another. This article proposes a model for thinking about how different considerations that are relevant to the distribution of vaccines and scarce tre…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 8
This is the eighth volume of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy. Since its revival in the 1970s, political philosophy has been a vibrant field in philosophy, one that intersects with jurisprudence, normative economics, political theory in political science departments, and just war theory. OSPP aims to publish some of the best contemporary work in political philosophy and these closely related subfields. This volume features nine chapters tha…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 7
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 6
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 6
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 5
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Volume 4
This is the fourth volume of the continuing series, Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy. We collect here new and refereed work by leaders in the field. Authors in this volume are Zofia Stemplowska and Adam Swift, Thomas Sinclair, Allen Buchanan, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Zoltan Miklosi, Ralf M. Bader, Alex Voorhoeve, and Alex Zakaras. The chapters are grouped into three categories: Legitimacy, Egalitarianism, and Liberty and Coercion. They add…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 3
This volume features ten papers in political philosophy, addressing a range of central topics and represent cutting-edge work in the field. Papers in the first part look at equality and justice: Keith Hyams examines the contribution of ex ante equality to ex post fairness; Elizabeth Anderson looks at equality from a political economy perspective; Serena Olsaretti’s paper studies liberal equality and the moral status of parent–child relationships;…
Liberal Equality and the Moral Status of Parent-Child Relationships
The justification of the parent-child relationship that lies at the core of the family raises two main challenges for liberal egalitarianism: the challenge of authority and the challenge of partiality. These point, respectively, to the burdens of justifying to children their parents’ having rights over them, and to third parties parents’ favoring of their children in ways that negatively affects others. This paper examines some recent attempts at…
The Pure Theory of Public Justification
The ideal of public justification holds, at a minimum, that the most fundamental political and legal institutions of a society must be publicly justified to each of its members. This essay proposes and defends a new account of this ideal. The account defended construes public justification as an ideal of rational justification, one that is grounded in the moral requirement to respect the rational agency of persons. The essay distinguishes two kin…
Autonomy as a Perfection
Perfectionists accept the traditional view of political authority. This view holds that is permissible in principle for the state to promote, actively and intentionally, the good of its members. Defenders of liberal versions of perfectionism argue that the ideal of personal autonomy is a key constituent of the good life, and that recognizing this fact makes it possible to reconcile the traditional understanding of political authority that perfect…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 2
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 1
This is the inaugural volume of 'Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy'. Since its revival in the 1970s, political philosophy has been a vibrant field in philosophy-one that intersects with jurisprudence, normative economics, political theory in political science departments, and just war theory. This series aims to publish some of the best contemporary work in political philosophy and these closely related subfields. This first volume addresses…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy
The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism
The political philosophy of liberalism was first formulated during the Enlightenment in response to the growth of the modern nation-state and its authority and power over the individuals living within its boundaries. Liberalism is now the dominant ideology in the Western world, but it covers a broad swathe of different (and sometimes rival) ideas and traditions and its essential features can be hard to define. The Cambridge Companion to Liberalis…
Political Morality and the Authority of Tradition
Cambridge Rawls Lexicon
John Rawls is widely regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and his work has permanently shaped the nature and terms of moral and political philosophy, deploying a robust and specialized vocabulary that reaches beyond philosophy to political science, economics, sociology, and law. This volume is a complete and accessible guide to Rawls' vocabulary, with over 200 alphabetical encyclopaedic entries written by…
On justificatory liberalism
In a number of publications, Gerald Gaus has presented an ambitious account of political morality that gives the ideal of public justification pride of place. This article critically discusses Gaus’s characterization and defense of the ideal of public justification in politics. It also presents an account and an argument in support of first-person political justification
Perfectionism, Reasonableness, and Respect
In recent work, Martha Nussbaum has exposed an important ambiguity in the standard conception of political liberalism. The ambiguity centers on the notion of “reasonableness” as it applies to comprehensive doctrines and to persons. As Nussbaum observes, the notion of reasonableness in political liberalism can be construed in a purely ethical sense or in a sense that combines ethical and epistemic elements. The ambiguity bears crucially on the res…
Democracy and Equality
Many writers claim that democratic government rests on a principled commitment to the ideal of political equality. The ideal of political equality holds that political institutions ought to be arranged so that they distribute political standing equally to all citizens. I reject this common view. I argue that the ideal of political equality, under its most plausible characterizations, lacks independent justificatory force. By casting doubt on the …
Debate
Self‐Ownership and Paternalism
Political Morality and the Authority of Tradition
Freedom, Interference and Domination
Interference and domination make persons less free. This paper discusses how they do so. It considers and rejects two influential recent accounts of freedom, one that holds that freedom is best understood in terms of non-interference and one that holds that freedom is best understood in terms of non-domination. Against these accounts, the paper argues that both interference and domination play an important role in reducing freedom and that neithe…
Public Justification and the Transparency Argument
Journal Article Public Justification and the Transparency Argument Get access Steven P. Wall Steven P. Wall Balliol College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 46, Issue 185, October 1996, Pages 501–507, https://doi.org/10.2307/2956360 Published: 01 October 1996
Public Reason and Moral Authoritarianism
In The Order of Public Reasons1, Gerald Gaus presents an important new statement of public reason liberalism, one that grounds the demands of public reason in the aspiration to avoid moral authoritarianism in social and political life.2 Public reason liberalism is distinguished from other political theories by its commitment to a publicity condition3 on the justified imposition of the demands of political morality. An account of public reason lib…
Public Justification and the Transparency Argument
Journal Article Public Justification and the Transparency Argument Get access Steven P. Wall Steven P. Wall Balliol College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 46, Issue 185, October 1996, Pages 501–507, https://doi.org/10.2307/2956360 Published: 01 October 1996
Liberalism, Perfectionism and Restraint
Are liberalism and perfectionism compatible? In this study Steven Wall presents and defends a perfectionist account of political morality that takes issue with many currently fashionable liberal ideas but retains the strong liberal commitment to the ideal of personal autonomy. He begins by critically discussing the most influential version of anti-perfectionist liberalism, examining the main arguments that have been offered in its defence. He the…
Liberalism, Perfectionism, and Restraint
Freedom, Interference and Domination
Interference and domination make persons less free. This paper discusses how they do so. It considers and rejects two influential recent accounts of freedom, one that holds that freedom is best understood in terms of non-interference and one that holds that freedom is best understood in terms of non-domination. Against these accounts, the paper argues that both interference and domination play an important role in reducing freedom and that neithe…
Freedom as a Political Ideal
I shall assume that a well-ordered state is one that promotes the freedom of its subjects. My question is what is the kind of freedom that the state ought to promote? This question is different from the question of what freedom is. It might be thought, for example, that freedom consists in the autonomous pursuit of valuable goals and projects, but that the state cannot directly promote this freedom. On this view, the state would not be able to ma…
Just Savings and the Difference Principle
Perfectionism, Public Reason, and Religious Accommodation
Rawls and the Status of Political Liberty
In his late work, Rawls makes strong claims about the status of political liberty. These claims, if accepted, would have significant implications for the content of “justice as fairness.” I discuss the nature of these claims, clarifying Rawls's fair value guarantee of the political liberties and critically discussing the arguments that he and others have given for assigning special importance to the political liberties. I conclude that justice as…
Democracy and Restraint
Debate
Collective Rights and Individual Autonomy
Democracy and Equality
Many writers claim that democratic government rests on a principled commitment to the ideal of political equality. The ideal of political equality holds that political institutions ought to be arranged so that they distribute political standing equally to all citizens. I reject this common view. I argue that the ideal of political equality, under its most plausible characterizations, lacks independent justificatory force. By casting doubt on the …
Perfectionism in Politics
This chapter contains sections titled: The Perfectionist Idea Pluralism and Skepticism The Challenge of Justificatory Liberalism Justification, Power, and Restraint Conclusion Notes
Self‐Ownership and Paternalism
Neutralism for Perfectionists
On justificatory liberalism
In a number of publications, Gerald Gaus has presented an ambitious account of political morality that gives the ideal of public justification pride of place. This article critically discusses Gaus’s characterization and defense of the ideal of public justification in politics. It also presents an account and an argument in support of first-person political justification
New essays in political and social philosophy
Self-Government, Market Democracy, and Economic Liberty
Political morality and constitutional settlements
This paper presents a way of thinking about how to respond to the pluralism of modern societies that avoids any commitment to contractualist norms of political justification. The argument developed appeals to the notion of a constitutional settlement. Constitutional settlements are complex on-going social practices that both express certain values to which political societies are committed and establish procedures for resolving disputes among mem…
Public Reason and Moral Authoritarianism
In The Order of Public Reasons1, Gerald Gaus presents an important new statement of public reason liberalism, one that grounds the demands of public reason in the aspiration to avoid moral authoritarianism in social and political life.2 Public reason liberalism is distinguished from other political theories by its commitment to a publicity condition3 on the justified imposition of the demands of political morality. An account of public reason lib…
Perfectionism
Rawls characterizes perfectionism as both a general teleological ethical theory and as a controversial conception of justice. As a general teleological ethical theory, it directs "society to arrange institutions and to define the duties and obligations of individuals so as to maximize the achievement of excellence in art, science and culture" (TJ 285–286). A theory of this kind is sometimes attributed to Nietzsche. As a controversial conception o…
Perfectionism, Reasonableness, and Respect
In recent work, Martha Nussbaum has exposed an important ambiguity in the standard conception of political liberalism. The ambiguity centers on the notion of “reasonableness” as it applies to comprehensive doctrines and to persons. As Nussbaum observes, the notion of reasonableness in political liberalism can be construed in a purely ethical sense or in a sense that combines ethical and epistemic elements. The ambiguity bears crucially on the res…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 1
This is the inaugural volume of 'Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy'. Since its revival in the 1970s, political philosophy has been a vibrant field in philosophy-one that intersects with jurisprudence, normative economics, political theory in political science departments, and just war theory. This series aims to publish some of the best contemporary work in political philosophy and these closely related subfields. This first volume addresses…
Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy
The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism
The political philosophy of liberalism was first formulated during the Enlightenment in response to the growth of the modern nation-state and its authority and power over the individuals living within its boundaries. Liberalism is now the dominant ideology in the Western world, but it covers a broad swathe of different (and sometimes rival) ideas and traditions and its essential features can be hard to define. The Cambridge Companion to Liberalis…
Political Philosophy and Ethics (39 works) · Political science (36 works) · Law (35 works) · Politics (33 works) · Philosophy (31 works) · Sociology (31 works) · Epistemology (28 works) · Law and economics (23 works) · Political philosophy (16 works) · Philosophy (12 works)