Justice

Key Concepts (Polity)

by Harry Brighouse

Justice is a concise and accessible introduction to the central theories of justice in contemporary political theory. The book aims to provide readers with a clear understanding of the theories and the main objections to them, as well as showing how these theories engage with one another.
It offers detailed accounts of John Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness; the alternative ‘capabilities approach’ developed by Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen; the libertarian theories of Milton Friedman and Robert Nozick; the ‘group-rights’ based theory of Will Kymlicka; and Nancy Fraser’s theory of participatory parity. The book also includes extensive discussions of the nature and purpose of political theorizing, and it asks whether theories of justice should take only social institutions as their subject, or should also comment on personal motivations and behaviour.

Genres: Philosophy

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2005

About the author

Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Reviews

[RJTK · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is quite technical, and though it is well written it not easy to follow if you're not paying close attention.

The book gives an overview of various theories of justice and equips the reader with some basic principles (e.g., ought implies can -- which should really be thought of through the contra-positive: if you cannot actually do something, justice cannot say you ought to do it) through which to think about what justice means.

[Pavol Hardos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good textbook overview of the major issues in distributive justice - esp. good on the methods of political philosophy and in covering Rawls, but also Nozick, Kymlicka, & Sen. Could do with more in-depth reflection of feminism and does not discuss luck egalitarianism. Overall very competent and accessible explanations.

[Zach Toad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully lucid and even-keeled introduction to contemporary political philosophy.