Rights and Poverty

This paper presents a passage from Peter Singer on the pond analogy and comments on its content and use in the classroom, especially with respect to the development of the learners' argumentative skills.

In this paper, I argue that taking basic human rights seriously—and the basic right to subsistence in particular—requires acknowledging that, given certain conditions, people in need have a right of necessity to take, use and/or occupy the property of others in order to get out of their plight. I explore the implications of this for the phenomenon of illegalized migration for subsistence reasons, and suggest that receiving countries ought not to deny entry to these migrants. On the contrary, those seeking (...) to enter should be morally permitted to do it. The reason is that, just as basic rights should serve as internal limits to any minimally reasonable system of property rights, so should they serve as limits to any minimally reasonable system of territorial rights. After developing this idea, I address some objections to the principle and its application, and conclude by pointing to the immediate, mediate and final duties that this principle gives rise to. (shrink)

I argue that, alongside the already well-established prohibition against treating persons as mere means, Kant’s Formula of Humanity requires a prohibition against treating persons as mere things. The former captures ethical violations due to someone’s instrumental value, e.g. exploitation, the latter captures cases in which I mistreat others because they have no instrumental value to me. These are cases in which I am indifferent and complacent towards persons in need; forms of mistreatment frequently suffered by the world’s poorest. I explain (...) why we need the category of treating others as mere things and what the prohibition against such treatment entails. Prohibitions against treating as mere means and as mere things are both essential for understanding the specific nature and extent of our duties to the world’s poorest. (shrink)

The aim of this chapter is to articulate the ways in which our social standing, and particularly our socio-economic status (SES), affects, even transforms, the experience of boredom. Even if boredom can be said to be democratic, in the sense that it can potentially affect all of us, it does not actually affect all of us in the same way. Boredom, I argue, is unjust—some groups are disproportionately negatively impacted by boredom through no fault of their own. Depending on our (...) social position and self and others’ perceptions of our SES, we can experience it more frequently, more intensely, and in ways that either leave us incapable of alleviating it or push us to harmful and maladaptive responses to it. Hence, seen in a socio-economic light, boredom can become a serious threat to our physical and psychological well-being. Insofar as freedom to pursue and achieve one’s well-being is essential to human life and a primary concern of contemporary liberal societies, boredom should be considered to be a social justice issue. The disproportionately negative effects of boredom on lower SES groups indicate the profound ways that boredom affects individuals and further disadvantages those who are already in marginalized positions. Contrary to many historical accounts, boredom is not only the experience of the elite, the wealthy, or those with ample free time. In our current political, social, and economic climate, boredom is primarily the experience of the less privileged, the disadvantaged, and the marginalized. (shrink)

La pandemia mundial del coronavirus ha supuesto una de las mayores conmociones de nuestra historia reciente y, como tal, parece obligarnos a repensar nuestros modos de organización y formas de vida e, incluso, como se propone aquí, a plantearnos cómo podríamos habitar el colapso. En este escenario incierto y desconocido, la filosofía, con sus múltiples enfoques y subdisciplinas, se presenta como un lugar privilegiado para analizar las vertiginosas transformaciones que han dado lugar a esta “nueva normalidad”. El presente monográfico aglutina (...) una serie de contribuciones realizadas por distintos investigadores e investigadoras de la Universidad de Oviedo, que han tratado de abordar la crisis sanitaria global desde diversas perspectivas filosóficas y humanísticas. Entre los temas que se estudian en estas páginas, figuran los relativos a la gestión de la pandemia y la comunicación científica sobre la misma, las relaciones entre pobreza, salud mental y suicidio o el alcance de la revalorización del mundo rural. También se utilizan las herramientas del análisis biopolítico para examinar la gestión de los cuerpos durante la pandemia a partir de tres ejes distintos: el tratamiento de los enfermos, los nuevos dispositivos de control y la gestión de la pandemia en las instituciones de encierro. Además, varios de los capítulos se ocupan explícitamente de un tema inherente a la mayoría de las reflexiones que componen este volumen: a saber, el de la necesidad de un cuestionamiento profundo de la sociedad occidental contemporánea y la insostenibilidad de su forma de vida. (shrink)

In this chapter we argue that poverty should be seen as a violation of dignity, drawing on two of Kant’s formulations of the Categorical Imperative – the formula of humanity and the formula of the kingdom of ends. In our view, poverty should not be seen primarily in terms of exploitation, nor of failures to help people in need. A Kantian perspective should give proper weight to the actual and potential agency of those who suffer poverty. This is a question (...) about power, not just the distribution of material resources. Theoretically, we will place particular emphasis on the rarely remarked reference to “ends and means” in the formula of the kingdom of ends. People are sometimes treated merely as means, which is one sort of disrespect for their equal moral status. Another form of disrespect, deeper and more general in form, is the denial of decent opportunities to act as means for others. The resulting powerlessness, we suggest, should be central to an adequate understanding of poverty and its violations of dignity. (shrink)

Much is known about homelessness from a quantitative perspective in Finland. However, the implications are often misleading and false. In this report, I present how prejudiced conclusions about the homeless are drawn in the City of Turku because there is no interest in grassroots experience. Targets to reduce homelessness still make sense.

This book is devoted to applied ethics. We focus on six popular and controversial topics: abortion, the environment, animals, poverty, punishment, and disability. We cover three chapters per topic, and each chapter is devoted to a famous or influential argument on the topic. After we present an influential argument, we then consider objections to the argument, and replies to the objections. The book is impartial, and set up in order to equip the reader to make up her own mind about (...) the controversial topics covered. (shrink)

Migration und Armut sind eng miteinander verbunden. Für die meisten Migrant*innen ist Armut der Grund, ihre Heimat zu verlassen, um anderswo ein günstigeres wirtschaftliches Umfeld zu finden. Der Internationalen Organisation für Migration zufolge lag die Zahl der sogenannten Arbeitsmigrant*innen im Jahr 2015 weltweit bei 150,3 Millionen, bei einer Gesamtzahl von 247,6 Millionen Migrant* innen. Diese Zahlen erfassen Migrant* innen mit offizieller Arbeitserlaubnis und es ist anzunehmen, dass die Zahl von Arbeitsmigrant*innen ohne legale Dokumente deutlich höher ist.

Effective altruism is a movement which aims to maximise good. Effective altruists are concerned with extreme poverty and many of them think that individuals have an obligation to donate to effective charities to alleviate extreme poverty. Their reasoning, which I will scrutinise, is as follows: -/- Premise 1. Extreme poverty is very bad. -/- Premise 2. If it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything else morally significant, we ought, morally, to do (...) it. -/- Premise 3. Individuals ought to choose the effective option in preventing very bad things. -/- Premise 4. Donating to effective charities is one of the best ways to alleviate extreme poverty. -/- Conclusion. Individuals ought to donate to effective charities working towards extreme poverty alleviation where doing so does not require them to give up anything of moral significance. -/- I will scrutinise each of these premises in turn. -/- For Premise 1, I focus on hedonistic utilitarianism and criticise its outlook on extreme poverty. I claim that hedonistic utilitarianism might be problematic for effective altruism. -/- Premise 2 is Peter Singer's Weaker Principle of Sacrifice. I introduce several possible interpretations of it, and press several objections to it by stressing overpermissiveness, luck, and rights. I defend strengthening the Weaker Principle of Sacrifice without making it overdemanding. -/- I claim that Premise 3 can be attractive to both consequentialists and non-consequentialists. Nevertheless, by showing that effectiveness sometimes violates fairness, I propose a method which avoids always helping the greater number and always giving everyone equal chances of being helped, which is compatible with effective altruism. -/- Against Premise 4, I assess the systemic change objection, which states that effective altruism unjustifiably distracts individuals from systemic change. By considering risk and the moral standing of the future extremely poor, I claim that the systemic change objection is partially successful, but cannot undermine effective altruism. -/- After analysing all of these, I argue that individuals have an obligation to donate to effective charities to alleviate extreme poverty where doing so does not require them to give up anything of moral significance. (shrink)

In their vulnerability to arbitrary, exploitative uses of human power, many of Earth’s nonhuman parts are subject to environmental domination. People too are subject to environmental domination in ways that include but also extend beyond the special environmental burdens borne by those who are poor and marginalized. Despite the substantial inequalities that exist among us as human beings, we are all captured and exploited by the eco-damaging collective practices that constitute modern life for everyone today. Understanding the complex, interacting dynamics (...) of environmental domination can orient us to a more liberatory approach to our environmental problems and to one another, both human and nonhuman. To make good on this potential, however, we need to move beyond existing conceptions of domination. This essay reconstructs the concept of domination to illuminate the multiple ways that the human domination of nature interacts with the domination of people, and it identifies changes that could support more emancipatory forms of political order, a politics of non-domination for people and the Earth. (shrink)

Reprint of an article that initially appeared in Philosophical Papers (2017).

ABSTRACTThis paper attempts to explore the ways through which the discourse on global justice can be expanded beyond the language of redistribution by utilizing the insights from the theory of recognition as proposed by Honneth. It looks into the potential contributions of recognition theory in the normative analysis of global poverty and inequality. Taking off from the argument that the focus on global redistributive justice is misleading, the paper makes three claims: firstly, any global justice discourse must take as its (...) point of departure the experience of suffering of the poor; secondly, suffering poverty, the global poor experience shame or humiliation, thereby, degrading their sense of self-worth and their capacity for independent agency; thirdly, the goal of global justice is not simply the poor’s equal access to resources but self-realization. In the end, the paper argues that the recognition paradigm is a useful tool in analyzing and theorizing global justice. (shrink)

The wide presence of the right to work in national and international legal texts contrasts with a lack of agreement about the concrete content of this right. According to the hegemonic interpretation, it consists of two elements: extension of wage labour and significant improvement of working conditions. However, if we study the history of right to work claims, especially from the French Revolution to 1848, we can notice that the meaning of this right was rather wider in the past. Rescuing (...) the historical significance of the right to work may help to face the problem of the future of work. In particular, and unlike what might seem at first sight, the claim that everyone should have his or her right to work guaranteed can be a way of articulating and concretizing issues such as workplace democracy, the organization of domestic work or the transition to a sustainable society. (shrink)

私たちが最初に留意しなければならないのは、中国がこれを言うか、中国がそうしていると言うとき、我々は中国の人々について話すのではなく、CCPを支配する社会主義者、すなわちCCPの常任委員会の7人の老人社 会病連続殺人犯(SSSSK)または政治局の25人のメンバーについて話しているということです。 CCPの第一次世界大戦と完全支配の計画は、中国政府の出版物や演説で非常に明確にレイアウトされており、これは習近平の「チャイナドリーム」です。中国を支配する小さな少数派(おそらく数十人から数百人)と他の 誰にとっても悪夢(14億人の中国人を含む)にとっては夢です。年間100億ドルは、彼らまたは彼らの人形が毎日どこでもほとんどの主要メディアにフェイクニュースを置き、新聞、雑誌、テレビ、ラジオチャンネルを 所有または制御し、置くことを可能にします。 さらに、彼らはより多くのプロパガンダを置き、正当な解説(50セントの軍隊)をかき消すすべてのメディアを荒らす軍隊(おそらく何百万人もの人々)を持っています。 第3の資源を取り除くことに加えて、数兆ドルの一帯一路イニシアチブの大きな推力は、世界中に軍事基地を建設しています。彼らは自由な世界をソ連との冷戦をピクニックのように見せる大規模なハイテク軍拡競争に追い 込んでいます。 SSSSKと世界の軍隊の残りの部分は、高度なハードウェアに巨額を費やしていますが、WW3(またはそれに至るまでの小規模なエンゲージメント)がソフトウェア支配になる可能性が高いです。SSSSKは、おそら くより多くのハッカー(コーダー)が彼らのために働き、世界の他のすべての部分を組み合わせることで、ネットを介して敵を麻痺させることによって、最小限の物理的な紛争で将来の戦争に勝つことは問題外ではありませ ん。衛星、電話、通信、金融取引、電力網、インターネット、高度な武器、車両、電車、船、飛行機はありません。 CCPを削除し、14億人の中国人囚人を解放し、第三次世界大戦への狂気の行進を終わらせるための2つの主要な道しかありません。 平和的なものは、軍がうんざりしてCCPを打ち切るまで、中国経済を荒廃させるために全面的な貿易戦争を開始することです。 中国経済を閉鎖する代わりに、CCPの第20回議会で50機の熱圧ドローンが1か所に位置する場合、標的型ストライキなど、限られた戦争であるが、2022年まで行われないので、年次本会議に当たる可能性がある。 中国人は、攻撃が起こったように、彼らは腕を下ろし、民主的な選挙を行うか、石器時代にヌックされる準備をしなければならないと知らされるだろう。もう一つの選択肢は、全面的な核攻撃です。 軍事的対立は、CCPの現在のコースを考えると避けられない。 南シナ海や台湾の島々で数十年以内に起こる可能性が高いが、世界中に軍事基地を設置するにつれて、どこでも起こり得る(クラウチング・タイガーなど参照)。 将来の紛争は、すべての軍事および産業通信、機器、発電所、衛星、インターネット、銀行、およびネットに接続されたデバイスまたは車両の制御システムをハッキングし、麻痺させることによってサイバー戦争を強調する ために、CCPの述べられた目的とハードキルとソフトキルの側面を持つことになります。 SSは、中国からの信号を待っているか、あるいは米国の船や飛行機の署名を探している場合でも、休眠状態にある可能性のある通常兵器や核兵器を打ち上げることができる有人および自律的な表面および水中潜水艦または ドローンの世界的な配列をゆっくりとフィールド化しています。 私たちの衛星を破壊し、したがって、世界中のアメリカと我々の軍隊との間の通信を排除しながら、彼らは私たちの現在優れた海軍を標的にし、破壊するためにドローンと一緒に、彼ら自身を使用します。 もちろん、このすべてがAIによってますます自動的に行われます。 CCPの最大の同盟国はアメリカの民主党です。 選択は、今CCPを停止するか、彼らは全世界に中国の刑務所を拡張として見てです。 .

America and the world are in the process of collapse from excessive population growth, most of it for the last century and now all of it due to 3rd world people. Consumption of resources and the addition of one or two billion more ca. 2100 will collapse industrial civilization and bring about starvation, disease, violence and war on a staggering scale. Billions will die and nuclear war is all but certain. In America this is being hugely accelerated by massive immigration (...) and immigrant reproduction, combined with abuses made possible by democracy. Depraved human nature inexorably turns the dream of democracy and diversity into a nightmare of crime and poverty. The root cause of collapse is the inability of our innate psychology to adapt to the modern world, which leads people to treat unrelated persons as though they had common interests. This, plus ignorance of basic biology and psychology, leads to the social engineering delusions of the partially educated who control democratic societies. Few understand that if you help one person you harm someone else—there is no free lunch and every single item anyone consumes destroys the earth beyond repair. Consequently, social policies everywhere are unsustainable and one by one all societies without stringent controls on selfishness will collapse into anarchy or dictatorship. Without dramatic and immediate changes, there is no hope for preventing the collapse of America, or any country that follows a democratic system. Hence my essay “Suicide by Democracy”. It is also now clear that the seven sociopaths who rule China are winning world war 3, and so my concluding essay on them. The only greater threat is Artificial Intelligence which I comment on briefly. The key to everything about us is biology, and it is obliviousness to it that leads millions of smart educated people like Obama, Chomsky, Clinton, the Democratic Party and the Pope to espouse suicidal utopian ideals that inexorably lead straight to Hell on Earth. As W noted, it is what is always before our eyes that is the hardest to see. We live in the world of conscious deliberative linguistic System 2, but it is unconscious, automatic reflexive System 1 that rules. This is the source of the universal blindness described by Searle’s The Phenomenological Illusion (TPI), Pinker’s Blank Slate and Tooby and Cosmides’ Standard Social Science Model. The first group of articles attempt to give some insight into how we behave that is reasonably free of theoretical delusions. In the next three groups I comment on three of the principal delusions preventing a sustainable world— technology, religion and politics (cooperative groups). People believe that society can be saved by them, so I provide some suggestions in the rest of the book as to why this is unlikely via short articles and reviews of recent books by well-known writers. Another section describes the religious delusion – that there is some super power that will save us. The next section describes the digital delusions, which confuse the language games of System 2 with the automatisms of System one, and so cannot distinguish biological machines (i.e., people) from other kinds of machines (i.e., computers). Other digital delusions are that we will be saved from the pure evil (selfishness) of System 1 by computers/AI/robotics/nanotech/genetic engineering created by System 2. The No Free Lunch principal tells us there will be serious and possibly fatal consequences. The last section describes The One Big Happy Family Delusion, i.e., that we are selected for cooperation with everyone, and that the euphonious ideals of Democracy, Diversity and Equality will lead us into utopia, if we just manage things correctly (the possibility of politics). Again, the No Free Lunch Principle ought to warn us it cannot be true, and we see throughout history and all over the contemporary world, that without strict controls, selfishness and stupidity gain the upper hand and soon destroy any nation that embraces these delusions. In addition, the monkey mind steeply discounts the future, and so we cooperate in selling our descendant’s heritage for temporary comforts, greatly exacerbating the problems. (shrink)

美国和世界正处于人口过度增长的崩溃过程中，大部分都发生在上个世纪，现在这一切都是由于第三世界人民造成的。资源消耗和增加10亿至2100亿美元，将使工业文明崩溃，并造成饥饿、疾病、暴力和战争。" ;数十亿人将死去，核战争几乎可以肯定。在美国，大规模移民和移民再生产，加上民主带来的滥用，大大加速了这一速度。堕落的人性无情地把民主和多样性的梦想变成犯罪和贫穷的噩梦。崩溃的根本原因是我们天生的心理无 法适应现代世界，这导致人们把不相关的人当作他们有共同的兴趣对待。再加上对基本生物学和心理的无知，导致部分受教育者的社会工程妄想，他们控制着民主社会。很少有人明白，如果你帮助一个人，你伤害了别人——没有 免费的午餐，任何人消费的每一件物品都会破坏地球，无法修复。因此，世界各地的社会政策都是不可持续的，如果不严格控制自私，所有社会都会陷入无政府状态或独裁。如果不立即作出戏剧性改变，就没有希望阻止美国或任 何遵循民主制度的国家的崩溃。因此，我的文章"民主自杀"。 现在很清楚，统治中国的七个社会道路正在赢得第三次世界大战，所以我关于他们的结论性文章。唯一更大的威胁是人工智能，我简要地评论。 我们一切的关键是生物学，而正是它所忽视它，导致数百万聪明受过教育的人，如奥巴马，乔姆斯基，克林顿，民主党和教皇支持自杀的乌托邦理想，无情地直接导致地球上的地狱。 正如W指出的，我们眼前最难看的就是什么。 我们生活在有意识的议事语言系统2的世界里，但它是无意识的，自动反射系统1的规则。这是西尔的《现象幻象》（TPI）、平克的《空白石板》和《图比》和《科斯米德的标准社会科学模型》中描述的普遍失明的根源。 第一组文章试图让我们了解我们是如何合理摆脱理论错觉的。在接下来的三个组中，我评论了阻碍可持续世界的三个主要错觉——技术、宗教和政治（合作团体）。人们相信社会可以由他们拯救，所以我在书的其余部分提供一些 建议，为什么这不太可能通过短篇文章和评论最近出版的著名作家的书。 另一节描述了宗教错觉——有一些超级力量会拯救我们。 下一节将数字错觉描述为将系统2的语言游戏与系统1的自动化混为一谈，因此无法区分生物机器（即人）和其他种类的机器（即计算机）。 其他数字错觉是，我们将从系统1的纯邪恶（自私）由计算机/AI/机器人/纳米技术/基因工程由系统2创建。 没有免费午餐校长告诉我们，将有严重，甚至致命的后果。 最后一节描述了"一个幸福家庭"的幻想，即我们被选中与大家合作，如果我们只是正确管理事情（政治的可能性），民主、多样性和平等等异想天意将引导我们进入乌托邦。 再次，没有免费午餐原则应该警告我们，它不能是真实的，我们看到整个历史和整个当代世界，没有严格的控制，自私和愚蠢占上风，并很快摧毁任何国家，拥抱这些妄想。此外，猴子的头脑大大折扣的未来，所以我们合作出售 我们的后代的遗产为临时舒适，大大加剧了问题。 .

America and the world are in the process of collapse from excessive population growth, most of it for the last century and now all of it due to 3rd world people. Consumption of resources and the addition of one or two billion more ca. 2100 will collapse industrial civilization and bring about starvation, disease, violence and war on a staggering scale. Billions will die and nuclear war is all but certain. In America this is being hugely accelerated by massive immigration (...) and immigrant reproduction, combined with abuses made possible by democracy. Depraved human nature inexorably turns the dream of democracy and diversity into a nightmare of crime and poverty. The root cause of collapse is the inability of our innate psychology to adapt to the modern world, which leads people to treat unrelated persons as though they had common interests. This, plus ignorance of basic biology and psychology, leads to the social engineering delusions of the partially educated who control democratic societies. Few understand that if you help one person you harm someone else—there is no free lunch and every single item anyone consumes destroys the earth beyond repair. Consequently, social policies everywhere are unsustainable and one by one all societies without stringent controls on selfishness will collapse into anarchy or dictatorship. Without dramatic and immediate changes, there is no hope for preventing the collapse of America, or any country that follows a democratic system. Hence my essay “Suicide by Democracy”. It is also now clear that the seven sociopaths who rule China are winning world war 3, and so my concluding essay on them. The only greater threat is Artificial Intelligence which I comment on briefly. The key to everything about us is biology, and it is obliviousness to it that leads millions of smart educated people like Obama, Chomsky, Clinton, the Democratic Party and the Pope to espouse suicidal utopian ideals that inexorably lead straight to Hell on Earth. As W noted, it is what is always before our eyes that is the hardest to see. We live in the world of conscious deliberative linguistic System 2, but it is unconscious, automatic reflexive System 1 that rules. This is the source of the universal blindness described by Searle’s The Phenomenological Illusion (TPI), Pinker’s Blank Slate and Tooby and Cosmides’ Standard Social Science Model. The first group of articles attempt to give some insight into how we behave that is reasonably free of theoretical delusions. In the next three groups I comment on three of the principal delusions preventing a sustainable world— technology, religion and politics (cooperative groups). People believe that society can be saved by them, so I provide some suggestions in the rest of the book as to why this is unlikely via short articles and reviews of recent books by well-known writers. Another section describes the religious delusion – that there is some super power that will save us. The next section describes the digital delusions, which confuse the language games of System 2 with the automatisms of System one, and so cannot distinguish biological machines (i.e., people) from other kinds of machines (i.e., computers). Other digital delusions are that we will be saved from the pure evil (selfishness) of System 1 by computers/AI/robotics/nanotech/genetic engineering created by System 2. The No Free Lunch principal tells us there will be serious and possibly fatal consequences. The last section describes The One Big Happy Family Delusion, i.e., that we are selected for cooperation with everyone, and that the euphonious ideals of Democracy, Diversity and Equality will lead us into utopia, if we just manage things correctly (the possibility of politics). Again, the No Free Lunch Principle ought to warn us it cannot be true, and we see throughout history and all over the contemporary world, that without strict controls, selfishness and stupidity gain the upper hand and soon destroy any nation that embraces these delusions. In addition, the monkey mind steeply discounts the future, and so we cooperate in selling our descendant’s heritage for temporary comforts, greatly exacerbating the problems. (shrink)

La predisposición genética a ayudar a nuestros parientes cercanos ("altruismo"), que era vital para la supervivencia en nuestros antepasados en las llanuras de Africa de cenas de miles a decenas de millones de años atrás, es un defecto fatal en un mundo superpoblado donde nuestros vecinos ya no están estrechamente relacionados y están involucrados en una lucha de vida o muerte por la supervivencia. Me he referido a esto como "El gran delirio de la familia feliz" y es fundamental para (...) los delirios utópicos suicidas de la izquierda política, que surgen debido a la abundancia temporal de recursos y la relativa paz que es posible gracias a la despiadada violación de la tierra. Los puntos de vista políticos liberales que tenían sentido en el pasado están provocando el colapso de las sociedades democráticas modernas y tal vez de la civilización misma. Aunque esto es obvio para cualquier niño brillante de diez años con acceso a la red o incluso televisión por satélite, es totalmente opaco para el liberal/democrático/neomarxista/neofascista/ supremacistas del tercer mundo/20,30,40 algo googloides y iPhoners, que pronto asumirá y destruirá la prosperidad y la paz en Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido, y luego el mundo, tanto directamente, como dejándolo abierto a la destrucción por parte de los Cárteles mexicanos, yihadistas islámicos y mucho más allá, los Siete Sóciopatas que gobiernan China. -/- Estados Unidos y el mundo están en proceso de colapso por el crecimiento excesivo de la población, la mayor parte del siglo pasado, y ahora todo, debido a la gente del tercer mundo. El consumo de recursos y la adición de 2.000 millones más alrededor de 2100 colapsarán la civilización industrial y provocarán hambre, enfermedades, violencia y guerra a una escala asombrosa. La tierra pierde al menos el 1% de su suelo superior cada año, por lo que a medida que se acerca a 2100, la mayor parte de su capacidad de cultivo de alimentos desaparecerá. Miles de millones morirán y la guerra nuclear es muy segura. En Estados Unidos, esto está siendo enormemente acelerado por la inmigración masiva y la reproducción de inmigrantes, combinado con los abusos que hacen posible la democracia. La depravada naturaleza humana convierte inexorablemente el sueño de la democracia y la diversidad en una pesadilla del crimen y la pobreza. La ignorancia de la biología básica y la psicología conduce a los delirios de ingeniería social de los parcialmente educados que controlan las sociedades democráticas. Pocos entienden que si ayudas a una persona, dañas a otra persona, no hay almuerzo gratis y cada artículo que alguien consume destruye la tierra más allá de la reparación. En consecuencia, las políticas sociales en todas partes son insostenibles y una a una todas las sociedades sin estrictos controles sobre el egoísmo se derrumbarán en anarquía o dictadura. Los hechos más básicos, casi nunca mencionados, son que no hay suficientes recursos en Estados Unidos o en el mundo para sacar a un porcentaje significativo de los pobres de la pobreza y mantenerlos allí. El intento de hacer esto es la bancarrota de Estados Unidos y la destrucción del mundo. La capacidad de la tierra para producir alimentos disminuye diariamente, al igual que nuestra calidad genética. Y ahora, como siempre, el mayor enemigo de los pobres es otro pobre y no los ricos. Sin cambios dramáticos e inmediatos, no hay esperanza de evitar el colapso de Estados Unidos, o cualquier país que siga un sistema democrático . (shrink)

Estados Unidos y el mundo están en proceso de colapso por el crecimiento excesivo de la población, la mayor parte del siglo pasado y ahora todo debido a la tercera gente del mundo. El consumo de recursos y la adición de uno o dos mil millones más alrededor de 2100 colapsarán la civilización industrial y provocarán hambre, enfermedades, violencia y guerra a una escala asombrosa. Miles de millones morirán y la guerra nuclear es muy segura. En Estados Unidos esto está (...) siendo enormemente acelerado por la inmigración masiva y la reproducción de inmigrantes, combinado con los abusos que hacen posible la democracia. La depravada naturaleza humana convierte inexorablemente el sueño de la democracia y la diversidad en una pesadilla del crimen y la pobreza. La causa fundamental del colapso es la incapacidad de nuestra psicología innata para adaptarse al mundo moderno, lo que lleva a las personas a tratar a personas no relacionadas como si tuvieran intereses comunes. Esto, además de la ignorancia de la biología básica y la psicología, conduce a los delirios de ingeniería social de los parcialmente educados que controlan las sociedades democráticas. Pocos entienden que si ayudas a una persona, dañas a otra persona, no hay almuerzo gratis y cada artículo que alguien consume destruye la tierra más allá de la reparación. En consecuencia, las políticas sociales en todas partes son insostenibles y una a una todas las sociedades sin estrictos controles sobre el egoísmo se derrumbarán en anarquía o dictadura. Sin cambios dramáticos e inmediatos, no hay esperanza de impedir el colapso de Estados Unidos, ni de ningún país que siga un sistema democrático. De ahí mi ensayo "Suicidio por Democracia". También está claro ahora que los siete sociópatas que gobiernan China están ganando la Tercera Guerra Mundial, por lo que mi ensayo final sobre ellos. La única amenaza mayor es la Inteligencia Artificial, que comento brevemente. La clave de todo lo que nos pasa es la biología, y es el olvido lo que lleva a millones de personas educadas inteligentes como Obama, Chomsky, Clinton, el Partido Demócrata y el Papa a defender ideales utópicos suicidas que inexorablemente conducen directamente al Infierno en la Tierra. Como W señaló, es lo que siempre está ante nuestros ojos lo que es más difícil de ver. Vivimos en el mundo del sistema linguístico deliberativo consciente 2, pero es inconsciente, sistema reflexivo automático 1 lo que gobierna. Esta es la fuente de la ceguera universal descrita por La ilusión fenomenológica (TPI) de Searle, la pizarra en blanco de Pinker y Tooby y el modelo de ciencia social estándar de Cosmides. El primer grupo de artículos intenta dar una idea de cómo nos comportamos que está razonablemente libre de delirios teóricos. En los siguientes tres grupos comento tres de los principales delirios que impiden un mundo sostenible: la tecnología, la religión y la política (grupos cooperativos). La gente cree que la sociedad puede ser salvada por ellos, por lo que proporciono algunas sugerencias en el resto del libro sobre por qué esto es poco probable a través de artículos cortos y reseñas de libros recientes de escritores conocidos. Otra sección describe el delirio religioso – que hay algún superpoder que nos salvará. En la siguiente sección se describen los delirios digitales, que confunden los juegos de idiomas del Sistema 2 con los automatismos del Sistema Uno, y por lo tanto no pueden distinguir las máquinas biológicas (es decir, las personas) de otros tipos de máquinas (es decir, computadoras). Otros delirios digitales son que seremos salvados del mal puro (egoísmo) del Sistema 1 por computadoras/AI/robotics/nanotech/ingeniería genética creada por System 2. El director De No Free Lunch nos dice que habrá consecuencias graves y posiblemente fatales. La última sección describe The One Big Happy Family Delusion, es decir, que somos seleccionados para la cooperación con todos, y que los eufóricos ideales de Democracia, Diversidad e Igualdad nos llevarán a la utopía, si sólo manejamos las cosas correctamente (la posibilidad de la política). Una vez más, el Principio De No Almuerzo Libre debe advertirnos que no puede ser verdad, y vemos a lo largo de la historia y en todo el mundo contemporáneo, que sin estrictos controles, egoísmo y estupidez ganar ventaja y pronto destruir cualquier nación que abraza estos delirios. Además, la mente del mono descuenta el futuro, por lo que cooperamos en la venta de la herencia de nuestros descendientes para las comodidades temporales, exacerbando en gran medida los problemas. (shrink)

In various responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can observe insufficient sensitivity towards the needs and circumstances of poorer citizens. Particularly in a context of high inequality, policy makers need to engage with the wider public in debates and consultations to gain better insights in the realities of the worst-off within their jurisdiction. When consultations involve members of traditionally underrepresented groups, these are not only more inclusive, which is in itself an ethical aim, but pool ideas and observations from a (...) much more diverse array of inhabitants. Inclusivity increases the odds to identify a larger range of weak spots for health security and to design health interventions that are less burdensome on those worst-off. (shrink)

While many are born into prosperity, hundreds of millions of people lead lives of almost unimaginable poverty. Our world remains hugely unequal, with our place of birth continuing to exert a major influence on our opportunities. -/- In this accessible book, leading political theorist Chris Armstrong engagingly examines the key moral and political questions raised by this stark global divide. Why, as a citizen of a relatively wealthy country, should you care if others have to make do with less? Do (...) we have a moral duty to try to rectify this state of affairs? What does 'global justice' mean anyway - and why does it matter? Could we make our world a more just one even if we tried? Can you as an individual make a difference? -/- This book powerfully demonstrates that global justice is something we should all be concerned about, and sketches a series of reforms that would make our divided world a fairer one. It will be essential introductory reading for students of global justice, activists and concerned citizens. (shrink)

In this paper, we take up the question of whether there comes a point at which one is no longer morally obliged to do further good, even at very low cost to oneself. More specifically, they ask: under precisely what conditions is it plausible to say that that “point” has been reached? A crude account might focus only on, say, the amount of good the agent has already done, but a moment’s reflection shows that this is indeed too crude. We (...) develop and defend a nuanced account according to which considerations of three types are all relevant to whether one has satisfied one’s duties to assist: “inputs” (types and quantities of sacrifice made), “characteristics” (the beliefs and intentions that informed the donor’s decisions), and “success” (the extent to which the donations in question succeeded in generating value). (shrink)

This chapter presents a portrait of American children as situationally vulnerable and introduces the public emotion of civic tenderness as a response to the indifference that is routinely directed toward this vulnerability. Discussions of pro-social empathic emotions typically prioritize emotions like sympathy and compassion. While they are important in their own right, these pro-social emotions are responses to situations of current need. Civic tenderness is a response to situations of vulnerability. Insofar as a person or group is now in a (...) situation of need, they had to have first been vulnerable to experiencing that need. Since vulnerability is conceptually prior to need, civic tenderness is prior to these other pro-social emotions. Through the process that I call tenderization, I explain how tenderness for poor and impoverished children’s vulnerability can be expanded to a society’s members, institutions, and systems. (shrink)

Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.

State Medicaid programs have proposed closed formularies to limit spending on drugs. Closed formularies can be justified when they enable spending on other socially valuable aims. However, it is still necessary to justify guidelines informing formulary design, which can be done through a process of decision making that includes the public. This article examines criticisms that Medicaid closed formularies limit deliberation about decisions that affect drug access and unfairly disadvantage poor patients. Although unfairness to poor patients is a risk, it (...) is not a problem unique to Medicaid, since private insurance programs have also implemented closed formularies. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with child poverty from an ethical perspective and applies the normative concept of vulnerability for this purpose. The first part of the paper will briefly outline children’s particular vulnerability and distinguish important aspects of this. Then the concept will be applied to child poverty and it will be shown that child poverty is a corrosive situational vulnerability, with many severe consequences. In this part of the paper normative reasoning and empirical literature will be brought together. Then, (...) the next section will establish why this increased vulnerability of poor children and the harm to their well-being and well-becoming, which they suffer for this reason, are of ethical concern. It will be discussed that child poverty is a structural problem based on social, political and economic factors. The concluding section will then briefly outline why it is imperative to protect children from the vulnerabilities associated with poverty. (shrink)

My critical engagement with David Ingram’s book ‘World Crisis and Underdevelopment’ is divided into three parts. In the first part I will explore how experiences of misreognition are related to experiences of injustice. In the second part I will ask about the criteria that make experiences of non-recognition or misrecognition unjust. Finally, I will briefly discuss the ‘self-subordination social recognition paradox’.

Philosophy &Public Affairs, Volume 47, Issue 4, Page 347-377, Fall 2019.

La première chose que nous devons garder à l'esprit est que lorsque vous dites que la Chine dit ceci ou la Chine fait cela, nous ne parlons pas du peuple chinois, mais des sociopathes qui contrôlent le PCC -- Parti communiste chinois, c'est-à-dire les sept tueurs en série sociopathiques séniles (SSSSK) de l'E e Comité permanent du PCC ou des 25 membres du Politburo, etc. -/- Les plans du PCC pour la Troiseme Guerre mondiale et la domination totale sont énoncés (...) très clairement dans les publications et les discours du gouvernement chinois et c'est le « rêve chinois » de Xi Jinping. C'est un rêve seulement pour la petite minorité (peut-être quelques dizaines à quelques centaines) qui gouvernent la Chine et un cauchemar pour tout le monde (y compris 1,4 milliard de Chinois). Les 10 milliards de dollars par an leur permettent, eux ou leurs marionnettes, de posséder ou de contrôler des journaux, des magazines, des chaînes de télévision et de radio et de placer des fausses nouvelles dans la plupart des grands médias partout chaque jour. En outre, ils ont une armée (peut-être des millions de personnes) qui troll tous les médias plaçant plus de propagande et de noyer les commentaires légitimes (l'armée de 50 cents). -/- En plus de dépouiller le 3e monde des ressources, l'une des grandes orientations de l'initiative Belt and Road, qui s'est portée à plusieurs milliards de dollars, consiste à construire des bases militaires dans le monde entier. Ils forcent le monde libre dans une course aux armements massive de haute technologie qui fait de la guerre froide avec l'Union soviétique ressembler à un pique-nique. -/- Bien que le SSSSK, et le reste de l'armée du monde, dépensent d'énormes sommes sur le matériel de pointe, il est très probable que WW3 (ou les petits engagements qui y ont précédé) sera dominé par le logiciel. Il n'est pas hors de question que le SSSSK, avec probablement plus de pirates (codeurs) travaillant pour eux, puis tout le reste du monde combiné, va gagner de futures guerres avec un conflit physique minimal, juste en paralysant leurs ennemis via le net. Pas de satellites, pas de téléphones, pas de communications, pas de transactions financières, pas de réseau électrique, pas d'Internet, pas d'armes avancées, pas de véhicules, trains, navires ou avions. -/- Il n'y a que deux voies principales à enlever le CCP, libérant 1,4 milliard de prisonniers chinois, et mettant fin à la marche folle à WW3. Le pacifique est de lancer une guerre commerciale tous adhérences pour dévaster l'économie chinoise jusqu'à ce que l'armée en ait marre et démarre le PCC. -/- Une alternative à la fermeture de l'économie de la Chine est une guerre limitée, comme une frappe ciblée par dire 50 drones thermobares sur le 20e Congrès du PCC, lorsque tous les membres supérieurs sont en un seul endroit, mais qui n'aura pas lieu jusqu'en 2022 afin on pourrait frapper à la réunion plénière annuelle. Les Chinois seraient informés, au fur et à mesure de l'attaque, qu'ils devaient déposer les armes et se préparer à tenir des élections démocratiques ou à être nuked dans l'âge de pierre. L'autre alternative est une attaque nucléaire tous adhérences. La confrontation militaire est inévitable compte tenu de la trajectoire actuelle du PCC. Il se produira probablement au-dessus des îles dans la mer de Chine méridionale ou à Taïwan dans quelques décennies, mais pendant qu'ils établissent des bases militaires dans le monde entier il pourrait se produire n'importe où (voir Tigre accroupi etc.). Les conflits futurs auront des aspects de hardkill et de softkill avec les objectifs déclarés du CCP pour souligner la cyberguerre en piratant et paralysant des systèmes de commande de toutes les communications militaires et industrielles, équipements, centrales électriques, satellites, internet, banques, et tout appareil ou véhicule connecté au réseau. Les SS sont lentement sur le terrain d'un éventail mondial de sous-marins de surface et autonomes habités et autonomes ou des drones capables de lancer des armes conventionnelles ou nucléaires qui peuvent rester en sommeil en attendant un signal de la Chine ou même à la recherche de la signature de navires ou d'avions américains. Tout en détruisant nos satellites, éliminant ainsi la communication entre les États-Unis et nos forces dans le monde entier, ils utiliseront les leurs, en conjonction avec des drones pour cibler et détruire nos forces navales actuellement supérieures. Bien sûr, tout cela est de plus en plus fait automatiquement par l'IA. (shrink)

Estados Unidos y el mundo están en proceso de colapso por el crecimiento excesivo de la población, la mayor parte del siglo pasado, y ahora todo, debido a la gente del tercer mundo. El consumo de recursos y la adición de 4.000 millones más alrededor de 2100 colapsarán la civilización industrial y provocarán hambre, enfermedades, violencia y guerra a una escala asombrosa. La tierra pierde al menos el 1% de su suelo superior cada año, por lo que a medida que (...) se acerca a 2100, la mayor parte de su capacidad de cultivo de alimentos desaparecerá. Miles de millones morirán y la guerra nuclear es muy segura. En Estados Unidos, esto está siendo enormemente acelerado por la inmigración masiva y la reproducción de inmigrantes, combinado con los abusos que hacen posible la democracia. La depravada naturaleza humana convierte inexorablemente el sueño de la democracia y la diversidad en una pesadilla del crimen y la pobreza. China seguirá abrumando a Estados Unidos y al mundo, mientras mantenga la dictadura que limita el egoísmo. La causa fundamental del colapso es la incapacidad de nuestra psicología innata para adaptarse al mundo moderno, lo que lleva a las personas a tratar a personas no relacionadas como si tuvieran intereses comunes. La idea de los derechos humanos es una fantasía maligna promovida por los izquecenas para alejar la atención de la destrucción despiadada de la tierra por la maternidad del tercer mundo sin restricciones. Esto, además de la ignorancia de la biología básica y la psicología, conduce a los delirios de ingeniería social de los parcialmente educados que controlan las sociedades democráticas. Pocos entienden que si ayudas a una persona, dañas a otra persona, no hay almuerzo gratis y cada artículo que alguien consume destruye la tierra más allá de la reparación. En consecuencia, las políticas sociales en todas partes son insostenibles y una a una todas las sociedades sin estrictos controles sobre el egoísmo se derrumbarán en anarquía o dictadura. Los hechos más básicos, casi nunca mencionados, son que no hay suficientes recursos en Estados Unidos o en el mundo para sacar a un porcentaje significativo de los pobres de la pobreza y mantenerlos allí. El intento de hacer esto es la bancarrota de Estados Unidos y la destrucción del mundo. La capacidad de la tierra para producir alimentos disminuye diariamente, al igual que nuestra calidad genética. Y ahora, como siempre, el mayor enemigo de los pobres es otro pobre y no los ricos. Sin cambios dramáticos e inmediatos, no hay esperanza de impedir el colapso de Estados Unidos, ni de ningún país que siga un sistema democrático. (shrink)

America and the world are in the process of collapse from excessive population growth, most of it for the last century, and now all of it, due to 3rd world people. Consumption of resources and the addition of 4 billion more ca. 2100 will collapse industrial civilization and bring about starvation, disease, violence and war on a staggering scale. The earth loses at least 1% of its topsoil every year, so as it nears 2100, most of its food growing capacity (...) will be gone. Billions will die and nuclear war is all but certain. In America, this is being hugely accelerated by massive immigration and immigrant reproduction, combined with abuses made possible by democracy. Depraved human nature inexorably turns the dream of democracy and diversity into a nightmare of crime and poverty. China will continue to overwhelm America and the world, as long as it maintains the dictatorship which limits selfishness. The root cause of collapse is the inability of our innate psychology to adapt to the modern world, which leads people to treat unrelated persons as though they had common interests. The idea of human rights is an evil fantasy promoted by leftists to draw attention away from the merciless destruction of the earth by unrestrained 3rd world motherhood. This, plus ignorance of basic biology and psychology, leads to the social engineering delusions of the partially educated who control democratic societies. Few understand that if you help one person you harm someone else—there is no free lunch and every single item anyone consumes destroys the earth beyond repair. Consequently, social policies everywhere are unsustainable and one by one all societies without stringent controls on selfishness will collapse into anarchy or dictatorship. The most basic facts, almost never mentioned, are that there are not enough resources in America or the world to lift a significant percentage of the poor out of poverty and keep them there. The attempt to do this is bankrupting America and destroying the world. The earth’s capacity to produce food decreases daily, as does our genetic quality. And now, as always, by far the greatest enemy of the poor is other poor and not the rich. Without dramatic and immediate changes, there is no hope for preventing the collapse of America, or any country that follows a democratic system. (shrink)

How is poverty discursively constituted, both as a category of thinking and as a label applied to particular social categories in times of austerity? How is it linked to social exclusion? Based on extensive fieldwork with representatives from 79 typical non-governmental organizations and informal initiatives of civil society in two Greek cities (Athens and Patras, in the periphery), this chapter explores the link between crisis, poverty and social exclusion. In their attempt to underline the marginalizing effects of austerity in Greece, (...) civil society actors question previous assumptions about what constitutes poverty and exclusion in Greek society and offer important insights into the seemingly disparate practices and experiences among those classified as “poor” or “new excluded”. (shrink)

Thomas Pogge has argued, famously, that ‘we’ are violating the rights of the global poor insofar as we uphold an unjust international order which provides a legal and economic framework within which individuals and groups can and do deprive such individuals of their lives, liberty and property. I argue here that Pogge’s claim that we are violating a negative duty can only be made good on the basis of a substantive theory of collective action; and that it can only provide (...) substantive ethical guidance when combined with an account of how collective action gives rise to forward-looking responsibility and/or accountability on an individual level. I consider accounts of these two topics given in work by Peter French and Christopher Kutz; and I argue that neither of them give Pogge what he needs. Although there is a sense in which 'we' can be said to be violating the rights of the worst off, the sense in which this is true does not generate any plausible action-guiding claims for individuals. (shrink)

Résumé : Les domaines de la philosophie et de la théorie politique ont connu un certain nombre de changements au cours des quarante dernières années. L'un attire notre attention tout particulièrement ; le basculement d'un point de vue national, cristallisé par le contrat social rawlsien, vers un point de vue non-national. En effet, plusieurs penseurs abordent un ensemble de phénomènes considérés comme nouveaux, tels que les traités de libre commerce et l'économie globale, les entreprises et les institutions supra et transnationales, (...) l'immigration et les contrôles frontaliers etc. Ces changements sont intéressants puisqu'ils obéissent, principalement, à une évolution majeure du terrain politique et social que l'on appelle mondialisation. Les théoriciens travaillant dans le domaine de la justice globale semblent s'adresser à deux questions différentes mais reliées. La première concerne la justice globale : dans quelle mesure et pourquoi l'ordre mondial est-il juste ou injuste ? Qu'est-ce qu'un ordre global juste ? La deuxième est dans un sens corollaire à la première, et concerne la responsabilité : qui devrait être blâmé ou digne d'éloge pour l'ordre mondial ? Est-ce que les citoyens sont responsables de l'ordre mondial ? Qui devrait redresser ses éventuelles conséquences injustes ? Face à l'économie mondialisée et aux institutions politiques et économiques internationales et trans-nationales, cette interrogation devient légitime et nécessaire : suis-je responsable à l'égard des travailleurs des sweat shop lorsque j'achète des habits à Auchan ou bien à l'égard des caféiculteurs très mal payés lorsque je prends un capuccino dans un café Starbucks ? Est-ce que les citoyens sont responsables des traités de libre commerce que leurs gouvernements signent ? Ces questions sur la responsabilité des individus dans le contexte de la mondialisation seront l'enjeu de ce travail de recherche. Nous interrogerons plus exactement la responsabilité d'un agent lorsqu'il fait partie d'un chaîne causale complexe, lorsqu'il participe d'une injustice structurelle. Ainsi, il ne s'agit pas seulement d'une chaîne causale, mais de connexions qui sont l'issue d'un changement des modes de productions, de consommation et de la concurrence dans un marché mondialisé. Plus important encore, il ne s'agit pas simplement de la responsabilité individuelle mais plutôt de la responsabilité individuelle en tant que citoyen, et donc d'une responsabilité politique. Elle peut certes être individuelle, mais nous devons tenir compte du fait qu'elle doit être pensée en tant que responsabilité politique, et pas uniquement morale, puisque l'individu et ses actions sont déterminés par des communautés politiques dans lesquelles il participe, ou dans lesquelles il est représenté. Ainsi, la mondialisation nous invite à repenser la responsabilité individuelle pour pouvoir rendre compte des intuitions morales et politiques qui guident une bonne partie du champ de la justice globale. Pour cela, nous verrons dans un premier temps la manière dont les théories de la justice globale essaient de répondre à ce défit. Grâce à cela nous dégagerons l'hypothèse qui nous guidera, l'idée que dans la mondialisation, un agent peut être responsable, avec d'autres, des raisons pour lesquelles il n'est pas considéré comme responsable. C'est-à-dire qu'il sera méta-responsable. Dans un second temps, nous essaierons de déterminer un model de responsabilité individuelle, et de comprendre comment la responsabilité est attribuée. Ensuite, nous essaierons de formuler une manière de concevoir la responsabilité politique. Grâce à ces deux éléments, la responsabilité individuelle et la responsabilité politique, nous pourrons parvenir à formuler une conception de la méta-responsabilité comme forme de penser l'agentivité traversée par la mondialisation. (shrink)

Dans l’opinion publique, la migration « irrégulière » est associée à l’entrée et au séjour non autorisés. Un nombre croissant d’études indiquent toutefois qu’elle résulte de la production de catégories légales de séjour autorisé. Le présent chapitre enrichit cette littérature, en montrant comment la construction de la catégorie légale de travail autorisé est productrice d’immigration « irrégulière ». En effet, la multiplication des conditions d’accès à l’autorisation de travail a pour effet de priver de droit au séjour des personnes autrement (...) en situation régulière. La France, située en tête de classement en matière d’obligations de quitter le territoire et en fin de classement en matière d’immigration professionnelle, représente un cas d’école parmi les pays de l’Union Européenne. (shrink)

Prioritarianism doesn’t value equality as such – any reason to equalize is due to the benefits for the worse off. But some argue that prioritarianism and egalitarianism coincide in their implications for the distribution of education: Equalizing educational opportunities improves the socioeconomic opportunities of the worse off. More specifically, a system that prohibits parents from making differential private educational expenditures would result in greater gains to the worse off than a system that permits these expenditures, all else equal. This article (...) argues that prioritarianism opposes a cap on educational expenditures. The argument, in brief, is that an equalized provision of schooling does a worse job of channeling the partiality of rich families in ways that produce positive spillover for poorer children. My challenge to the prioritarian case for educational equality is an internal one: the very concerns about parental partiality that underlie prioritarian objections to uncapped educational expenditures apply with even greater force to a system that caps educational expenditures. (shrink)

Human rights are high priority norms that empower right holders to demand the benefits protected by their rights. This is no less true of socioeconomic human rights than civil and political human rights. I argue that realizing human socioeconomic rights requires that they be enacted into state law in such a way that individual right holders have the power to bring legal action in defense of their rights. Contrary to Thomas Pogge, it is not enough for states simply to provide (...) the benefits required by human rights. Unfortunately, limited resources mean that successful litigation by right holders threatens to disempower other right holders by distorting a fair distribution of limited resources, since those with the resources to litigate can command a disproportionate and unjust share of limited resources. Using the human right to health as an example, I argue that an important part of the solution requires specifying different aspects of the content of the right to health and adopting appropriately strong standards of judicial review. (shrink)

According to Thomas Pogge, rich people do not simply violate a positive duty of assistance to help the global poor; rather, they violate a negative duty not to harm them. They do so by imposing an unjust global economic structure on poor people. Assuming that these claims are correct, it follows that, ceteris paribus, wars waged by the poor against the rich to resist this imposition are morally equivalent to wars waged in self-defense against military aggression. Hence, if self-defense against (...) military aggression is just, then, ceteris paribus, so are defensive wars against the imposition of economic injustice. While I do not think Pogge’s analysis of the causes of global poverty is correct, I defend these inferences against various challenges. (shrink)

In this article, I consider whether there are values intrinsic to development theory and practice that are dubious in light of a characteristically African ethic. In particular, I focus on what a certain philosophical interpretation of the sub-Saharan value of communion entails for appraising development, drawing two major conclusions. One is that a majority of the criticisms that have been made of development by those sympathetic to African values are weak; I argue that, given the value of communion, development should (...) not be rejected because it is essentially, say, overly materialistic and scientistic, or insufficiently spiritual and local. The second conclusion, however, is that three criticisms of development are strong from the perspective of Afro-communalism and are particularly powerful when set in that context. I argue that development theory and practice are characteristically anthropocentric, individualist and technocratic, and that a reading of the sub-Saharan value of communion provides a unitary foundation for rejecting these features and for grounding an alternative, more relational approach to social progress and to what justice demands from the West in relation to Africa. (shrink)

This book explores the philosophical, and in particular ethical, issues concerning the conceptualization, design and implementation of poverty alleviation measures from the local to the global level. It connects these topics with the ongoing debates on social and global justice, and asks what an ethical or normative philosophical perspective can add to the economic, political, and other social science approaches that dominate the main debates on poverty alleviation. Divided into four sections, the volume examines four areas of concern: the relation (...) between human rights and poverty alleviation, the connection between development and poverty alleviation, poverty within affluent countries, and obligations of individuals in regard to global poverty. (shrink)