Social Philosophy

by Gerald F. Gaus

This accessible introductory text discusses how people in a pluralistic society such as ours can accept a common social ethic - a publicly justified morality. It presents analyses of the basic concepts, including justifications of liberty, harm to others, private property rights, distributive justice, environmental harms, help to others and offensive behaviour. Gaus acquaints the reader with the major figures in social philosophy - John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, John Rawls, David Gauthier, and Joel Feinberg - as well as recent communitarian philosophers. The basic technical aspects of social philosophy are also game theory, social choice theory, the ideas rational action, rational bargaining, and public goods. Throughout, helpful short examples and stories are used to illustrate the material.

Genres: Philosophy

262 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Gaus was an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and earned his MA and PhD in political science at the University of Pittsburgh. His career included fellowships at The Australian National University and professorships at Wake Forest University, the University of Queensland, the University of Minnesota, Tulane University, and since 2006, the University of Arizona, where he was the James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy. At Arizona, he was also head of the interdisciplinary Department of Political Economy and Moral Science.