Fair Play and Cooperative Practices

Abstract

The moral principle at the foundation of the theory developed in this book is sometimes called the principle of fairness and sometimes the principle of fair play. In this chapter, I argue for the latter term because it more clearly indicates that questions about one person’s moral duties to others typically arise within cooperative enterprises or endeavors, such as games. To support this claim, the chapter begins by distinguishing fair play from broader considerations of fairness, after which I turn to explication of the concept of a cooperative practice. To establish the connection of fair play to moral duties and political obligations, I then examine the relationship among cooperation, justice, and fair play. I conclude that the polity is properly conceived not only as a cooperative practice, but as a cooperative meta-practice—that is, a cooperative practice that enables people to engage in narrower cooperative practices.