Currency Of Justice Research Articles

The Union Makes us Strong, but Does it Make Us Free? A Review of Mark Reiff’s In the Name of Liberty: The Argument for Universal Unionization

Mark Reiff’s book In the Name of Liberty: The Argument for Universal Unionization successfully delivers the promise contained in the title—the case for a version of liberal capitalism where every worker would belong to a union. The argument, based on the greater freedom unions bring to workers, clearly seeks an overlapping consensus, for virtually all major contemporary political philosophies defend freedom. The book especially tries to be appealing to right-libertarians. This review will argue, however, that Reiff takes the ‘liberty’ in ‘libertarianism’ way too seriously. Right-libertarians do not defend liberty; they defend property rights. Reiff’s argument will certainly be convincing to anyone who believes liberty is the main currency of justice. The problem is precisely that not everyone believes that.

What Kind of Functionings Matter for Global Justice for Children?

ABSTRACT In this paper I am interested in the ‘currency of justice’ question, which is important for a theory of global justice for children, based within the capability approach. My paper is structured in three parts. In the first part I will examine the distinction between capabilities and functionings and consider the role this plays in global justice for children. In the second part I will discuss the temporality of functionings as a key feature for understanding global justice for children. It is important to distinguish here between the timing (when children have certain functionings) and the duration of functionings (for how long children have those functionings). In the third and final part I will discuss the role of specific functionings which have been termed in other debates ‘kindergoods’ or the ‘intrinsic goods of childhood’. I will argue in this regard that child-specificity can have different meanings, that some functionings can only be had by children and that some functionings are particularly valuable only for children despite the fact that adults can also have them.

Pat O’Malley, The Currency of Justice: Fines and Damages in Consumer Societies

Pat O’Malley, <i>The Currency of Justice: Fines and Damages in Consumer Societies</i>

The Currency of Justice: Fines and Damages in Consumer Societies. By Pat O'Malley (Abingdon and New York: Routledge-Cavendish, 2009, ix + 187pp. 22.99)

The Currency of Justice: Fines and Damages in Consumer Societies. By Pat O'Malley (Abingdon and New York: Routledge-Cavendish, 2009, ix + 187pp. 22.99)

Review: Climate Change: Justice and Future Generations by Edward A. Page

Review: Climate Change: Justice and Future Generations By Edward A. Page Reviewed by A.M. Mannion University of Reading, UK Page, Edward A. Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006. 209pp. ISBN: 978-1-84376-184-6. $US 95 Hardcover. The presentation of a new report on climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a renowned international group of climate scientists, in January 2007, has once again drawn attention to the challenge facing humankind in relation to energy consumption and the reduction in carbon emissions. The panel reports with 90 percent certainty that global climatic change is due to human activity and that immediate measures are essential to mitigate the problem. Focusing on what has been a major environmental issue for scientists and is now a pressing international political issue, Page's book is timely. It highlights the ethical dimensions of the problem with emphasis on two themes: that there should be a nuanced understanding of ethics in the formulation of policies to manage climate change, and that the notion of distributive justice, i.e. how benefits and burdens should be fairly distributed spatially and temporally, should be integral. Opening with a discussion on weather, climate, recent extreme events and the remit of the IPCC, attention is drawn to the injustice of human-induced climate change in relation to future generations. This is reminiscent of sustainable development theory of which climate change is an inevitable part and is also a component of the wider issue of the domestication of carbon (Mannion, 2006). There follows a survey of the historical development of the science of climate change and a synopsis of IPCC findings of relevance to intergenerational relationships, e.g. the uncertainties which surround the certainty of climate change, as well as the problems of estimating future socio-economic and cultural impacts. Issues such as the scope, dimension and currency of justice and the notion of sufficiency are examined in relation to future generations, e.g. the identification of benefits and burdens. There is no defining formula, an unsurprising outcome in view of the complex factors involved.

Climate change, justice and future generations

Contents: 1. Intergenerational Justice in a Warming World 2. Space, Time and the Science of Climate Change 3. Climate Change, Future Generations and the Currency of Justice 4. Climate Change, Future Generations and the Profile of Justice 5. The Non-Reciprocity Problem 6. The Non-Identity Problem 7. Concluding Chapter References Index

Welfare Should Be the Currency of Justice

Some theories of justice hold that individuals placed in fortunate circumstances through no merit or choice of their own are morally obligated to aid individuals placed in unfortunate circumstances through no fault or choice of their own. In these theories what are usually regarded as obligations of benevolence are reinterpreted as strict obligations of justice. A closely related view is that the institutions of a society should be arranged in a way that gives priority to helping people placed in unfortunate circumstances through no fault or choice of their own. Any theory of this type needs a way of assessing individuals’ circumstances to determine who is fortunate and who is unfortunate.I shall argue that the standard for assessing people's circumstances to determine what they owe and are owed according to distributive justice should be the welfare or well-being level that they can attain, given their circumstances. This claim, that the ‘currency of justice’ should be welfare, has attracted criticisms that some have thought decisive. My counterclaim is that if we adopt an objective account of welfare and properly accommodate concerns about individual responsibility, the criticisms can be drained of their force.