Explanation, justification, and egalitarianism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10808647 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jesse Spafford (0000-0001-7443-9882, Trinity College Dublin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 199 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 9699-9724 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Synthese (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0039-7857 • E-ISSN: 1573-0964 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11229-021-03222-4 |
| OpenAlex | W3177917893 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 36 |
This paper argues that the philosophy of explanation can help inform core debates in value theory. Specifically, it argues that there is a consistent parallelism between the properties of explanation and the properties of justification such that one can reasonably infer that any property of explanation has a counterpart property of justification. Thus, by appealing to facts about the nature of explanation, one can derive various conclusions about the justifications offered by normative theorists. The paper illustrates this point by considering a debate within political philosophy over whether inequality requires justification in a way that equality does not. Egalitarians typically presume an affirmative answer to this question. However, libertarian critics note that this justificatory asymmetry cannot be simply assumed without argument. This paper argues that, by appealing to the explanation-justification parallelism, one can resolve this debate in favor of the egalitarians, as there are two properties of explanation, the justificatory analogs of which vindicate the egalitarian presumption
Argument (complex analysis) · Egalitarianism · Epistemology · Mathematical economics · Metaphysics · Normative · Philosophy of language · Philosophy of science · Political science · Politics · Presumption · Property (philosophy) · Value (mathematics) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Law · Mathematics · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics
Causal Explanation
Why Not Socialism?
Reasons Why
The Principles of Scientific Thinking
Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance
Aspects of Scientific Explanation
I — Susan Hurley
Liberalism, Capitalism, and “Socialist” Principles
II — Michael Otsuka
Words
A Theory of Justice
Rescuing Justice and Equality
On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice
I — Andrew Williams
Why Inequality Matters
The Empty Idea of Equality
On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice
Inequality
Why Not Socialism
The Question of Realism
Luck and Equality
Equality, Community, and Diversity in Cohen’s Socialist Ideal
Probability, explanation, and information
A Deductive-Nomological Model of Probabilistic Explanation
Studies in the Logic of Explanation
Moral Explanation and Moral Objectivity
Brute luck and responsibility
The scientific image
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |