Conceptual Investigation of Justice

Kyle Johannsen is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Trent University, Canada. He is primarily interested in political philosophy, metaethical issues that pertain to political philosophy, and animal ethics. His work has appeared in such journals as Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Res Publica, Ethical Perspectives, and Socialist Studies.

• Acknowledgments1. Introduction2. Fairness, Efficiency, and Value Theory3. Defeasible Luck Equality4. Cohen’s Equivocal Attack on Rawls’s Basic Structure Restriction5. Narrow Justice6. Fairness and Democratic Legitimacy7. Conclusion

'With great clarity and originality, Kyle Johannsen redirects our view of current discussions about social justice. By asking us to consider substantive debates as based on conceptual disagreements, he opens up new paths for philosophical research in a highly productive and inspiring way.' — Rainer Forst, Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy, Goethe University Frankfurt'A fascinating book showing how disagreement about what justice requires often reflects confusion or disagreement about the very concept of ‘justice’. More controversially, it argues, with great clarity and rigor, that there is a particular way in which the concept of justice should be understood and used.' — Patrick Tomlin, Associate Professor in Political Philosophy, University of Reading'Johannsen’s monograph not only helps clarify our thinking on this conceptual question but also charts where important debates in the literature have gone astray because of diverging implicit assumptions about the concept of justice.' — Kristin Voigt, Dialogue'Johannsen offers an interesting and original diagnosis of recent disputes in political philosophy about the nature of justice and the proper domain of judgements of justice.' — Colin M. Macleod, Dialogue