We all have beliefs, even strong convictions, about what is just and fair in our social arrangements. How should these beliefs and the theories of justice that incorporate them guide our thinking about practical matters of justice? This wide-ranging collection of essays by one of the foremost medical ethicists in the USA explores the claim that justification in ethics, whether of matters of theory or practice, involves achieving coherence between our moral and non-moral beliefs. Amongst the practical issues addressed in the volume are the design of health-care institutions, the distribution of goods between the old and the young, and fairness in hiring and firing. In combining ethical theory and practical ethics this volume will prove especially valuable to philosophers concerned with ethics and applied ethics, political theorists, bioethicists, and others involved in the study of public policy.
1. Introduction: reflective equilibrium in theory and practice; 2. Wide reflective equilibrium and theory acceptance in ethics; 3. Reflective equilibrium and archimedian points; 4. On some methods of ethics and linguistics; 5. Two approaches to theory acceptance in ethics; 6. An argument about the relativity of justice; 7. Moral theory and the plasticity of persons; 8. Reflective equilibrium and justice as political; 9. Health-care needs and distributive justice; 10. Equality of what: welfare, resources, or capabilities?; 11. Determining 'medical necessity' in mental health practice; 12. The prudential lifespan account of justice across generations; 13. Problems with prudence; 14. Merit and meritocracy; 15. Rationing fairly: programmatic considerations; 16. Wide reflective equilibrium in practice.
Norman Daniels, Donald W. Light, Ronald L. Caplan, Tufts University) Daniels, Norman (Goldthwaite Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Medical Ethics, Goldthwaite Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Medical Ethics, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey) Light, Donald W. (Professor of Comparative Health Systems, Professor of Comparative Health Systems, Richard Stockton State College) Caplan, Ronald L. (Assistant Professor of Public Health, Assistant Professor of Public Health
Norman Daniels, James E. Sabin, USA) Daniels, Norman (Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and Professor of Ethics and Population Health, Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and Professor of Ethics and Population Health, Harvard University, USA) Sabin, James E. (Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Allen Buchanan, Dan W. Brock, Norman Daniels, Daniel Wikler, Allen (University of Arizona) Buchanan, Rhode Island) Brock, Dan W. (Brown University, Massachusetts) Daniels, Norman (Tufts University, Madison) Wikler, Daniel (University of Wisconsin
Raymond Gillespie Frey, Christopher W. Morris, Ohio) Frey, Raymond Gillespie (Bowling Green State University, Ohio) Morris, Christopher W. (Bowling Green State University, R. G. Frey