Why global justice matters

Bibliographic Data

ID12892971
AuthorsKok‐chor Tan (0000-0003-0556-5257, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume10
Issue2
Pages128-134
Publication date2014-05-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Global Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-9626 • E-ISSN: 1744-9634
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17449626.2014.931876
OpenAlexW1990885005
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited9

Why does global justice as a philosophical inquiry matter? We know that the world is plainly unjust in many ways and we know that something ought to be done about this without, it seems, the need of a theory of global justice. Accordingly, philosophical inquiry into global justice comes across to some as an intellectual luxury that seems disconnected from the real world. I want to suggest, however, that philosophical inquiry into global justice is necessary if we want to address the problems of humanity. First, in some cases, a theory of global justice is needed for identifying what counts as legitimate problems of justice. Second, even in obvious cases of injustices, such as the fact of preventable extreme poverty to which we know we have an obligation to respond, we cannot know the content and the limits of these obligations and who the primary bearers of these obligations are without some theoretical guidance. However, I acknowledge that philosophical inquiry on global justice risks becoming a philosophical parlor game if it loses sight of the real-world problems that motivate the inquiry in the first place. If global justice is to provide the tools for addressing the problems of humanity, it must remain a problems-driven enterprise

Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Global justice · Humanity · Law and economics · Obligation · Political science · Sociology · Ethics in medical practice · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · War, Ethics, and Justification

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