Assessing ideal theories

David Wiens
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David Wiens: University of California, San Diego, USA

Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2016, vol. 15, issue 2, 132-149

Abstract: Numerous philosophers allege that the “general theory of second best†poses a challenge to the Target View , which asserts that real-world reform efforts should aim to establish arrangements that conform to the constitutive features of ideally just states of affairs. I demonstrate two claims that are relevant in this context. First, I show that the theory of second best fails to present a compelling challenge to the Target View in general. But, second, the theory of second best requires ideal theorists to undertake certain kinds of causal and comparative analyses that are typically thought to lie outside the remit of conventional ideal theory.

Keywords: Second best; ideal theory; political ideals; normative evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:pophec:v:15:y:2016:i:2:p:132-149

DOI: 10.1177/1470594X15620343

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