William A Edmundson
Biographic Data
| ID | 4116241 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William A Edmundson |
| GIVEN NAMES | William A |
| FAMILY NAME | Edmundson |
| SIGNATURE | EDMUNDSON W A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgia State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8581-8044 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Political Equality, Epistocracy, and Expensive Tastes
Democracy and equality are different concepts. There are two fundamentally different ways of relating them. The first way defines democracy in terms of substantive political equality: the purest form of democracy is a regime in which each citizen (at any given level of aptitude and motivation) has equal influence over political decisions, regardless of the citizen's wealth and other resources. The second way renders democracy as a device for assu…
What Is the Argument for the Fair Value of Political Liberty
The equal political liberties are among the basic first-principle liberties in John Rawls’s theory of Justice as fairness. Rawls insists, further, that the “fair value” of the political liberties must be guaranteed. Disavowing an interest in fair value is what disqualifies welfare-state capitalism as a possible realizer of Justice as fairness. Yet Rawls never gives a perspicuous statement of the reasoning in the original position for the fair-val…
Tolerating the Conditionally Tolerant
How can a tolerant, liberal political culture tolerate the presence of only conditionally tolerant illiberal sub-cultures while remaining true to its principles of tolerance? The problem falls within the intersection of two developments in the thinking of two of the leading anglophone philosophers of the last half-century, Bernard Williams and John Rawls. Rawls, particularly, struggled with the problem of how a liberal society might stably surviv…
What Are “The Means of Production”
John Rawls: Reticent Socialist
This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, who was perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Rawls's 1971 treatise, A Theory of Justice, stimulated an outpouring of commentary on 'justice-as-fairness,' his conception of justice for an ideal, self-contained, modern political society. Most of that commentary took Rawls to be defending welfare-state capitalism as found in Western Europe an…
John Rawls - Reticent Socialist: Ideal Theory and Practical Demands
This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, who was perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Rawls's 1971 treatise, A theory of justice, stimulated an outpouring of commentary on "justice-as-fairness," his conception of justice for an ideal, self-contained, modern political society. Most of that commentary took Rawls to be defending welfare-state capitalism as found in Western Europe an…
Do Animals Need Rights
Banking
I n the period when Latin American countries in the early 1800s were struggling for independence from Spain and Portugal, British Foreign Secretary Castlereagh realized that Britain’s real interests were bound up not with acquiring territory in the region but in trade with, and investment in, independent republics. Canning and Palmerston followed the same policy of promoting these nations’ independence and avoiding any intervention by European po…
Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory
First Force
The state’s very existence seems morally problematic: there may be a justification, but there had better be. A vivid way of putting this is to say that gunmen, and the state as “gunman writ large,” threaten first force, while individuals who make conspicuous their readiness to defend what is theirs threaten not first but second force. But the “No First Force” maxim–originally Kant’s–must be relaxed if any institution of private property is to get…
The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory
State of the Art: The Duty to Obey the Law
Philosophy, despite its typical attitude of detachment and abstraction, has for most of its long history been engaged with the practical and mundane-seeming question of whether there is a duty to obey the law. As Matthew Kramer has recently summarized: “For centuries, political and legal theorists have pondered whether each person is under a general obligation of obedience to the legal norms of the society wherein he or she lives. The obligation …
Civility as Political Constraint
Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority
How is a legitimate state possible? Obedience, coercion and intrusion are three ideas that seem inseparable from all government and seem to render state authority presumptively illegitimate. This book exposes three fallacies inspired by these ideas and in doing so challenges assumptions shared by liberals, libertarians, cultural conservatives, moderates and Marxists. In three clear and tightly argued essays William Edmundson dispels these fallaci…
Rethinking exclusionary reasons: A second edition of Joseph Raz's: Practical reason and norms
Rethinking exclusionary reasons: A second edition of Joseph Raz's: Practical reason and norms
Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority
How is a legitimate state possible? Obedience, coercion and intrusion are three ideas that seem inseparable from all government and seem to render state authority presumptively illegitimate. This book exposes three fallacies inspired by these ideas and in doing so challenges assumptions shared by liberals, libertarians, cultural conservatives, moderates and Marxists. In three clear and tightly argued essays William Edmundson dispels these fallaci…
Civility as Political Constraint
State of the Art: The Duty to Obey the Law
Philosophy, despite its typical attitude of detachment and abstraction, has for most of its long history been engaged with the practical and mundane-seeming question of whether there is a duty to obey the law. As Matthew Kramer has recently summarized: “For centuries, political and legal theorists have pondered whether each person is under a general obligation of obedience to the legal norms of the society wherein he or she lives. The obligation …
The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory
First Force
The state’s very existence seems morally problematic: there may be a justification, but there had better be. A vivid way of putting this is to say that gunmen, and the state as “gunman writ large,” threaten first force, while individuals who make conspicuous their readiness to defend what is theirs threaten not first but second force. But the “No First Force” maxim–originally Kant’s–must be relaxed if any institution of private property is to get…
Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory
Banking
I n the period when Latin American countries in the early 1800s were struggling for independence from Spain and Portugal, British Foreign Secretary Castlereagh realized that Britain’s real interests were bound up not with acquiring territory in the region but in trade with, and investment in, independent republics. Canning and Palmerston followed the same policy of promoting these nations’ independence and avoiding any intervention by European po…
Do Animals Need Rights
John Rawls: Reticent Socialist
This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, who was perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Rawls's 1971 treatise, A Theory of Justice, stimulated an outpouring of commentary on 'justice-as-fairness,' his conception of justice for an ideal, self-contained, modern political society. Most of that commentary took Rawls to be defending welfare-state capitalism as found in Western Europe an…
John Rawls - Reticent Socialist: Ideal Theory and Practical Demands
This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, who was perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Rawls's 1971 treatise, A theory of justice, stimulated an outpouring of commentary on "justice-as-fairness," his conception of justice for an ideal, self-contained, modern political society. Most of that commentary took Rawls to be defending welfare-state capitalism as found in Western Europe an…
What Are “The Means of Production”
What Is the Argument for the Fair Value of Political Liberty
The equal political liberties are among the basic first-principle liberties in John Rawls’s theory of Justice as fairness. Rawls insists, further, that the “fair value” of the political liberties must be guaranteed. Disavowing an interest in fair value is what disqualifies welfare-state capitalism as a possible realizer of Justice as fairness. Yet Rawls never gives a perspicuous statement of the reasoning in the original position for the fair-val…
Tolerating the Conditionally Tolerant
How can a tolerant, liberal political culture tolerate the presence of only conditionally tolerant illiberal sub-cultures while remaining true to its principles of tolerance? The problem falls within the intersection of two developments in the thinking of two of the leading anglophone philosophers of the last half-century, Bernard Williams and John Rawls. Rawls, particularly, struggled with the problem of how a liberal society might stably surviv…
Political Equality, Epistocracy, and Expensive Tastes
Democracy and equality are different concepts. There are two fundamentally different ways of relating them. The first way defines democracy in terms of substantive political equality: the purest form of democracy is a regime in which each citizen (at any given level of aptitude and motivation) has equal influence over political decisions, regardless of the citizen's wealth and other resources. The second way renders democracy as a device for assu…
Political science (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Law and economics (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Law (5 works)