Moral and Political Philosophy Key Issues,

Paul Smith provides a clear and concise introduction to moral and political philosophy. His first four chapters consider arguments about controversial and topical practical issues -- drug laws, justifications of punishment, civil disobedience and whether there is a duty to obey the law, and global poverty. The next four chapters examine key concepts in moral and political theory -- liberty, reasons for laws that limit liberty (harm to others, offence, harm to self, and harmless wrongdoing) , rights, equality and social justice. Finally he provides incisive critical examinations of key moral and political theories -- moral relativism, utilitarianism, Kantian moral philosophy, and Rawls's theory of justice, together with libertarian and egalitarian criticisms of Rawls.

Paul Smith is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Cumbria, Lancaster, UK

Preface	p. viii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Drug Laws	p. 1
Arguments for a right to the freedom to use drugs	p. 1
Arguments against a right to the freedom to use drugs	p. 4
A utilitarian argument for prohibition	p. 11
A utilitarian argument against prohibition	p. 13
Justifications of Punishment	p. 19
Retributivism	p. 20
Kant's retributivism	p. 21
Kant's arguments for retributivism	p. 22
Criticisms of retributivism	p. 23
The utilitarian theory of punishment	p. 24
Criticisms of the utilitarian theory of punishment	p. 27
Attempts to reconcile retributivist and utilitarian justifications of punishment	p. 30
Civil Disobedience: Is There a Duty to Obey the Law?	p. 33
Definitions and varieties of civil disobedience	p. 33
Is there a duty to obey the law?	p. 35
Justifications of civil disobedience	p. 39
Global Poverty	p. 45
Facts about global poverty and affluence	p. 45
Is there a moral duty to help the distant poor?	p. 46
Peter Singer's argument for a duty to help the distant poor	p. 48
Global poverty as injustice	p. 52
Liberty	p. 58
John Stuart Mill on liberty	p. 58
Contractualism and liberty	p. 62
Which freedoms are especially important?	p. 65
Analysing interpretations of liberty: how many concepts of liberty?	p. 65
Competing conceptions of freedom	p. 67
Freedom and the state	p. 72
Liberty-limiting Principles	p. 75
Harm to others	p. 76
Offence	p. 78
Harm to self	p. 80
Harmless wrongdoing	p. 88
Public goods	p. 92
Social justice	p. 93
Rights	p. 95
Some distinctions among rights	p. 97
The basis of moral rights	p. 100
Rights and right conduct	p. 101
Rights and duties	p. 102
Human rights	p. 104
The importance of moral rights	p. 109
Criticisms of the idea of moral rights	p. 110
Equality and Social Justice	p. 113
Equality	p. 113
Social justice	p. 115
Which kinds of equality does social justice require?	p. 116
Moral Relativism	p. 129
The fact of moral diversity	p. 129
Varieties of moral relativism	p. 130
Arguments for moral relativism	p. 132
Objections to moral relativism	p. 135
Utilitarianism	p. 143
Bentham's and Mill's utilitarianism	p. 144
Varieties of contemporary utilitarianism	p. 148
Attractions of utilitarianism	p. 151
Utilitarianism, liberty, rights, equality and social justice	p. 154
Objections to utilitarianism	p. 161
Kantian Moral Philosophy	p. 167
Moral duties are categorical imperatives	p. 168
The Categorical Imperative	p. 170
The Formula of Universal Law	p. 170
The Formula of Humanity	p. 173
Kant and ordinary moral judgements	p. 178
Kant on lying	p. 179
Moral motivation as crucial, powerful, and inspiring	p. 180
The sufficiency of moral motivation: ought implies can	p. 182
Moral motivation and freedom of the will	p. 183
John Rawls's Theory of Justice	p. 185
Fundamental ideas	p. 186
The principles of justice	p. 190
Arguments for the principles of justice	p. 193
Institutional and policy implications of the principles of justice	p. 198
Criticisms of Rawls's contractual argument	p. 200
Nozick's libertarian rival to, and critique of, Rawls's theory of justice	p. 201
Cohen's egalitarian critique of Rawls's theory of justice	p. 205
Concluding Remarks	p. 211
Notes	p. 215
References	p. 241
Index	p. 251
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Moral and Political Philosophy Key Issues, Concepts and Theories

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