New Book: "The Original Position"

The Original Position 

Ed. by Timothy Hinton 

Cambridge University Press (2015)

292 pages





Description

At the centre of John Rawls's political philosophy is one of the most influential thought experiments of the twentieth century: which principles of justice would a group of individuals choose to regulate their society if they were deprived of any information about themselves that might bias their choice? In this collection of new essays, leading political philosophers examine the ramifications and continued relevance of Rawls's idea. Their chapters explore topics including the place of the original position in rational choice theory, the similarities between Rawls's original position and Kant's categorical imperative, the differences between Rawls's model and Scanlon's contractualism, and the role of the original position in the argument between Rawls and other views in political philosophy, including utilitarianism, feminism, and radicalism. This accessible volume will be a valuable resource for undergraduates, as well as advanced students and scholars of philosophy, game theory, economics, and the social and political sciences.

Contents [pdf] [preview]

Introduction [pdf] - Timothy Hinton

1.   Justice as Fairness, Utilitarianism, and Mixed Conceptions [pdf] - David O. Brink
2.   Rational Choice and the Original Position [pdf] - Gerald Gaus & John Thrasher
3.   The Strains of Commitment - Jeremy Waldron
4.   Our Talents, our Histories, Ourselves - John Christman
5.   Rawls and Dworkin on Hypothetical Reasoning - Matthew Clayton
6.   Feminist Receptions of the Original Position [abstract] - Amy R. Baehr
7.   G. A. Cohen's Critique of the Original Position - David Estlund
8.   Liberals, Radicals, and the Original Position - Timothy Hinton
9.   The Original Position and Scanlon's Contractualism - Joshua Cohen
10. The "Kantian Roots" of the Original Position - Andrews Reath
11. Stability and the Original Position from Theory to Political Liberalism - Paul Weithman
12. The Original Position in The Law of Peoples - Gillian Brock

Timothy Hinton is Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina State University, Raleigh.