Jessica Flanigan
Biographic Data
| ID | 704472 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jessica Flanigan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jessica |
| FAMILY NAME | Flanigan |
| SIGNATURE | FLANIGAN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Richmond |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3220-8573 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Symbolic values and taxation
Nozick is known for defending the entitlement theory of distributive justice. The entitlement theory prohibits most kinds of redistribution by public officials on the grounds that, insofar as people are entitled to their property, redistribution violates those entitlements. In his later work, Nozick seemed to walk back his endorsement of the entitlement theory, writing that the theory was inadequate because it failed to account for the symbolic s…
Public Reason Illiberalism and Ideology
This paper describes public reason communitarianism, a theory which is isomorphic to public reason liberalism. It contains the same internal diversity and debates, and the same fundamental structure and argumentation as public reason liberalism. However, while public reason liberals believe that public reason will converge on liberal outcomes, hypothetical public reason communitarians hold that public reason converges, for largely the same reason…
The Ethics of Parental Leave and Childcare
Parental leave, daycare, and transfer programs are "the three mainstays" of family policy. Parental leave policies require that employers offer parental leave to new mothers or parents. Public daycare programs provide parents with childcare. Tax and transfer programs offer cash support or in-kind benefits to families with children. For each kind of policy, social scientists disagree about the effects of child welfare policies. Public officials mu…
The Case for Drug War Reparations
Jessica Flanigan and Christopher Freiman on the undoing of unjust policy
Wealth Without Limits
Boundary Problems and Self-Ownership
Self-ownership theorists argue that many of our most morally urgent and enforceable rights stem from the fact that we own ourselves. Critics of self-ownership argue that the claim that people own their bodies commits self-ownership theorists to several implausible conclusions because self-ownership theory relies on several vague moral predicates, and any precisification of the required predicates is seemingly too permissive (because it allows peo…
Debating Sex Work
In this “for and against” book Lori Watson argues for a sex equality approach to prostitution in which buyers are criminalized and sellers are decriminalized (the Nordic Model). Jessica Flanigan argues that sex work should be fully decriminalized. Watson defends the Nordic Model on the grounds that prostitution is an exploitative and unequal practice that entrenches existing patterns of gendered injustice. Watson also argues that full decriminali…
Duty and Enforcement
Seat Belt Mandates and Paternalism
Seat belt mandates seem like a paradigmatic case of justified paternalism. Even those who generally object to paternalism often concede that seat belt laws are justified. Against this near-consensus in favor of mandates, I argue that seat belt laws are unjust and public officials should not enforce them. The most plausible exceptions to a principle of anti-paternalism do not justify seat belt mandates. Some argue that seat belt mandates are not p…
Philosophical methodology and leadership ethics
Many leadership researchers aim to advise organizations about how to select and develop ethical leaders, to tell business educators how to teach people to be ethical, or to describe ethical leadership. Yet for these tasks, empirical approaches that address questions about ethics with surveys, experiments, and case studies are insufficient on their own in answering the question, “what should a leader do?” I first argue that descriptive approaches …
All Liberty is Basic
The Perils of Public Health Regulation
Inequality and Markets in Bodily Services
Charisma and Moral Reasoning
Charisma is morally problematic insofar as it replaces followers' capacity to engage in genuine moral reasoning. When followers defer to charismatic leaders and act in ways that are morally wrong they are not only blameworthy for wrongdoing but for failing in their deliberative obligations. Even when followers defer to charismatic leaders and do the right thing, their action is less praiseworthy to the extent that it was the result of charisma ra…
Health problems of homeless children in New York City
We reviewed the outpatient medical records of 265 homeless children less than 5 years of age in New York City and compared them with children of similar low socioeconomic status (SES) attending the same pediatric clinic. The frequency of health problems among the homeless children, including delayed immunizations, elevated blood lead levels, the rate of admission to hospital, and the rate of child abuse and neglect reports, exceeded those for the…
Health problems of homeless children in New York City
We reviewed the outpatient medical records of 265 homeless children less than 5 years of age in New York City and compared them with children of similar low socioeconomic status (SES) attending the same pediatric clinic. The frequency of health problems among the homeless children, including delayed immunizations, elevated blood lead levels, the rate of admission to hospital, and the rate of child abuse and neglect reports, exceeded those for the…
Duty and Enforcement
All Liberty is Basic
The Perils of Public Health Regulation
Health problems of homeless children in New York City
We reviewed the outpatient medical records of 265 homeless children less than 5 years of age in New York City and compared them with children of similar low socioeconomic status (SES) attending the same pediatric clinic. The frequency of health problems among the homeless children, including delayed immunizations, elevated blood lead levels, the rate of admission to hospital, and the rate of child abuse and neglect reports, exceeded those for the…
Inequality and Markets in Bodily Services
Charisma and Moral Reasoning
Charisma is morally problematic insofar as it replaces followers' capacity to engage in genuine moral reasoning. When followers defer to charismatic leaders and act in ways that are morally wrong they are not only blameworthy for wrongdoing but for failing in their deliberative obligations. Even when followers defer to charismatic leaders and do the right thing, their action is less praiseworthy to the extent that it was the result of charisma ra…
The Perils of Public Health Regulation
Seat Belt Mandates and Paternalism
Seat belt mandates seem like a paradigmatic case of justified paternalism. Even those who generally object to paternalism often concede that seat belt laws are justified. Against this near-consensus in favor of mandates, I argue that seat belt laws are unjust and public officials should not enforce them. The most plausible exceptions to a principle of anti-paternalism do not justify seat belt mandates. Some argue that seat belt mandates are not p…
Philosophical methodology and leadership ethics
Many leadership researchers aim to advise organizations about how to select and develop ethical leaders, to tell business educators how to teach people to be ethical, or to describe ethical leadership. Yet for these tasks, empirical approaches that address questions about ethics with surveys, experiments, and case studies are insufficient on their own in answering the question, “what should a leader do?” I first argue that descriptive approaches …
All Liberty is Basic
Duty and Enforcement
Boundary Problems and Self-Ownership
Self-ownership theorists argue that many of our most morally urgent and enforceable rights stem from the fact that we own ourselves. Critics of self-ownership argue that the claim that people own their bodies commits self-ownership theorists to several implausible conclusions because self-ownership theory relies on several vague moral predicates, and any precisification of the required predicates is seemingly too permissive (because it allows peo…
Debating Sex Work
In this “for and against” book Lori Watson argues for a sex equality approach to prostitution in which buyers are criminalized and sellers are decriminalized (the Nordic Model). Jessica Flanigan argues that sex work should be fully decriminalized. Watson defends the Nordic Model on the grounds that prostitution is an exploitative and unequal practice that entrenches existing patterns of gendered injustice. Watson also argues that full decriminali…
Wealth Without Limits
The Case for Drug War Reparations
Jessica Flanigan and Christopher Freiman on the undoing of unjust policy
Public Reason Illiberalism and Ideology
This paper describes public reason communitarianism, a theory which is isomorphic to public reason liberalism. It contains the same internal diversity and debates, and the same fundamental structure and argumentation as public reason liberalism. However, while public reason liberals believe that public reason will converge on liberal outcomes, hypothetical public reason communitarians hold that public reason converges, for largely the same reason…
The Ethics of Parental Leave and Childcare
Parental leave, daycare, and transfer programs are "the three mainstays" of family policy. Parental leave policies require that employers offer parental leave to new mothers or parents. Public daycare programs provide parents with childcare. Tax and transfer programs offer cash support or in-kind benefits to families with children. For each kind of policy, social scientists disagree about the effects of child welfare policies. Public officials mu…
Symbolic values and taxation
Nozick is known for defending the entitlement theory of distributive justice. The entitlement theory prohibits most kinds of redistribution by public officials on the grounds that, insofar as people are entitled to their property, redistribution violates those entitlements. In his later work, Nozick seemed to walk back his endorsement of the entitlement theory, writing that the theory was inadequate because it failed to account for the symbolic s…
Political science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (7 works) · Law and economics (6 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (6 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Free Will and Agency (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Economics (3 works)