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Should the government influence or coerce us for our 'own good'? This volume discusses specific applications in policy and law.
This timely book makes a forceful argument that the analyses from behavioral economists are incomplete, the policies advocated by libertarian paternalists are misguided and unethical, and both actually reinforce the cognitive biases and dysfunctions that motivate 'nudges' in the first place. In a lighthearted manner, the author points out critical flaws in the way economists model decision-making, how behavioral economics failed to correct them, and how they led to the problems with libertarian paternalism and nudges. Sprinkled throughout with anecdotes, examples, and references to a wide range of scholarly literature, this new volume argues against the use of paternalistic nudges by the government and makes a positive case for individual choice and autonomy. This book is part of White's triptych on individualism and society, which includes The Illusion of Well-Being and The Decline of the Individual.
We evaluate people all the time for a wide variety of activities. We blame them for miscalculations, uninspired art, and committing crimes. We praise them for detailed brushwork, a superb pass, and their acts of kindness. We accomplish things, from solving crosswords to mastering guitar solos. We bungle our endeavors, whether this is letting a friend down or burning dinner. Sometimes these deeds are morally significant, but many times they are not. Simply Responsible defends the radical proposal that the blameworthy artist is responsible in just the same way that the blameworthy thief is. We can be responsible for all kinds of different activities, from lip-synching to long division, from mu...
The Routledge Handbook of Private Law and Sustainability reflects on how the law can help tackle the current environmental challenges and make our societies more resilient to future crises. Sustainability has been high on the political agenda since the approval of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 and the EU Green Deal in 2019. The Green Agenda aims at making Europe the first climate‐neutral continent by 2050, but humanity persists in an ecological overshoot that puts at risk the survival of species, including that of our own. Drawing together a selection of leading thinkers in the field, this Handbook provides a curated overview of the most recent and relevant discussions for priv...
We like to think of ourselves and our friends and families as pretty good people. The more we put our characters to the test, however, the more we see that we are decidedly a mixed bag. Fortunately there are some promising strategies - both secular and religious - for developing better characters.
The essays in this volume open up reflection on the implications of social inequality for theorizing about moral responsibility. Collectively, they focus attention on the relevance of the social context, and of structural and epistemic injustice, stereotyping and implicit bias, for critically analyzing our moral responsibility practices.
Drawing on the political theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, described by Barack Obama as 'one of my favourite philosophers', this book assesses the challenges facing the President during his first term. It evaluates his success in adhering to Niebuhr's path of 'Christian realism' when faced with the pragmatic demands of domestic and foreign affairs. In 2008 Candidate Obama used the ideas of 'Hope' and 'Change' to inspire voters and secure the presidency. Obama promised change not only regarding America's policies, but even more fundamentally in the nation's political culture. Holder and Josephson describe the foundations of President Obama's Christian faith and the extent to which it has shaped h...
The burgeoning science of ethics has produced a trend toward pessimism. Ordinary moral thought and action, we're told, are profoundly influenced by arbitrary factors and ultimately driven by unreasoned feelings. This book counters the current orthodoxy on its own terms by carefully engaging with the empirical literature. The resulting view, optimistic rationalism, shows the pervasive role played by reason our moral minds, and ultimately defuses sweeping debunking arguments in ethics. The science does suggest that moral knowledge and virtue don't come easily. However, despite the heavy influence of automatic and unconscious processes that have been shaped by evolutionary pressures, we needn't reject ordinary moral psychology as fundamentally flawed or in need of serious repair. Reason can be corrupted in ethics just as in other domains, but a special pessimism about morality in particular is unwarranted. Moral judgment and motivation are fundamentally rational enterprises not beholden to the passions.
With the increasing use of algorithms to govern public life, a proliferation of promises surrounding ‘big data,’ and an ever tighter union of academic specialists and the state bureaucracy, we are, it seems, on our way to an administrative utopia. At what cost, though? Executing Truth critically appraises this reformation of politics by way of the social sciences. It argues that what is lost with this reformation is a deeper consideration of the problematic relation of truth to politics; a problem which cuts deeper than any social science might plumb. In seeking to recover what is lost, this book offers a comprehensive study of the problem. The author works his way back from the debates in politically applied social science (or policy science) to the foundational thinkers. These include Harold Lasswell, John Dewey, Max Weber, and Georg Hegel. At the end of this journey, Executing Truth calls for a return to the everyday (or the most comprehensive basis for distinguishing between theoretical perspectives), and outlines the implications of this return for those political advisors – state executive actors – tasked with ‘speaking truth to power.’
Considers how research in psychology offers new perspectives on property law, and suggests avenues of reform Property law governs the acquisition, use and transfer of resources. It resolves competing claims to property, provides legal rules for transactions, affords protection to property from interference by the state, and determines remedies for injury to property rights. In seeking to accomplish these goals, the law of property is concerned with human cognition and behavior. How do we allocate property, both initially and over time, and what factors determine the perceived fairness of those distributions? What social and psychological forces underlie determinations that certain uses of pr...