Public Reason Research Articles

Correction to: Animals in the order of public reason

Correction to: Animals in the order of public reason

We need to talk about values: a proposed framework for the articulation of normative reasoning in health technology assessment.

It is acknowledged that health technology assessment (HTA) is an inherently value-based activity that makes use of normative reasoning alongside empirical evidence. But the language used to conceptualise and articulate HTA's normative aspects is demonstrably unnuanced, imprecise, and inconsistently employed, undermining transparency and preventing proper scrutiny of the rationales on which decisions are based. This paper - developed through a cross-disciplinary collaboration of 24 researchers with expertise in healthcare priority-setting - seeks to address this problem by offering a clear definition of key terms and distinguishing between the types of normative commitment invoked during HTA, thus providing a novel conceptual framework for the articulation of reasoning. Through application to a hypothetical case, it is illustrated how this framework can operate as a practical tool through which HTA practitioners and policymakers can enhance the transparency and coherence of their decision-making, while enabling others to hold them more easily to account. The framework is offered as a starting point for further discussion amongst those with a desire to enhance the legitimacy and fairness of HTA by facilitating practical public reasoning, in which decisions are made on behalf of the public, in public view, through a chain of reasoning that withstands ethical scrutiny.

Erratum to “The Well‐Ordered Society under Crisis: A Formal Analysis of Public Reason vs. Convergence Discourse” American Journal of Political Science, Volume 64, Issue 1, January 2020, pp. 82–101

Erratum to “The Well‐Ordered Society under Crisis: A Formal Analysis of Public Reason vs. Convergence Discourse” <i>American Journal of Political Science</i>, Volume 64, Issue 1, January 2020, pp. 82–101

Eliminating the gendered division of labor: The argument from primary goods

While Susan Moller Okin found much to celebrate in Rawls's earlier articulation of his theory of justice, she worried that his later turn to political liberalism evacuated his theory of its feminist potential. Here, I argue that we need not be so pessimistic: some of the strongest arguments for pursuing certain feminist projects can and should be made from within a politically liberal framework. In advancing this claim, I develop Rawls's idea of primary goods—namely those goods that all citizens need qua citizens—as a key conceptual resource for arguing for the elimination of the gendered division of labor using public reason. Drawing on recent empirical literature, I point out that the gendered division of labor continues to distribute to women an unfair allocation of primary goods. I then advocate for a specific public policy, which I call Gender Egalitarian Daddy Quota—a parental leave policy that sets aside time specifically for fathers to encourage men and women to engage in childcare related leave-taking to similar extents—on the grounds that this policy would help secure a fairer distribution of primary goods, and thus is required as a matter of justice.

Amartya Sen as a social and political theorist – on personhood, democracy, and ‘description as choice’

ABSTRACT Economist-philosopher Amartya Sen's writings on social and political issues have attracted wide audiences. Section 2 introduces his contributions on: how people reason as agents within society; social determinants of people's (lack of) access to goods and of the effective freedoms and agency they enjoy or lack; and associated advocacy of self-specification of identity and high expectations for ‘voice’ and reasoning democracy. Section 3 considers his relation to social theory, his tools for theorizing action in society, and his limited degree of attention to work by sociologists and to capitalism and power structures. Section 4 characterizes a style marked by conceptual refinement, emphases on complexity and individuality, including personal individuality, and reformist optimism. Section 5 shows the features from Sections 3 and 4 at work in his conception of personhood that advocates freedom to make a reasoned composition of personal identity. Similarly, Section 6 addresses his conception of public reasoning and neglect of the sociology of democracy. It contrasts the ideal of a reasoning polity with features in many countries. Sen's programmes for critical autonomy in personhood and for reasoned politics play, nevertheless, a normic role, while his analytical formats help investigation of obstacles to more widespread agency, voice, and democratic participation.

THE MAIN LIVERS OF A COMPANY EFFECTIVE STRATEGY TRADE TOOLS IMPLAMANTATION WITHIN FOREIGH TRADE ACTIVITY

By this currently issued article the ways for foreign market intrude and promotion were estimated. In focus the mission and target of a separate management decision were considered. It was a chance for any separate enterprise to be involved into international trade activity. Within a way of decision making could be deeply concerned about foreign trade activity strategy at a beginning. The main issue of the article is strategy development direction of the Company that provides any types industrial or trade activity targeting to foreign of overseas markets The most problematic point of this article concerns the main strategy issues for an enterprise within first steps and further development its international trade activity. All type of publishing and posted information about main livers for foreign trade activity is fruitful and respected within analyzing and be implemented for a practical side of trade promotion activity to overseas. The main reason for the present publication is new ways for successful foreign trade activity for all kinds of enterprises within its upgrading, first steps, either promotion their activity overseas. All kind of proposed points can be a separate subject for discussion or practical implementation depended from the terms and conditions of the foreign market or special type of enterprise behaving within intruding into foreign market. For companies and individuals not fully acquainted with export operations (however familiar they are with business practices in general and domestic operations in particular), this article offers a basic introduction to the «tools of trade»: export terminology survey, equipment, procedures, administrative backup, and essential sources of information. In the first step of your strategy decision you need to know that some office procedures apply to overseas trade in particular, such as the terminology used in business exchanges, the calculations necessary for making offers, and the system used to keep of quotation and transactions.

Animals in the order of public reason

Animals in the order of public reason

Healthy Eating Policy and Public Reason in a Complex World: Normative and Empirical Issues

Who gets to decide what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, and how important a healthy lifestyle is to a good life? As more governments make preventing obesity and diet-related illness a priority, it has become more important to consider the ethics and acceptability of their efforts. When it comes to laws and policies that promote healthy eating—such as special taxes on sugary drinks or programs to encourage consumption of fruits and vegetables—critics argue that these policies are paternalistic, and that they limit individual autonomy over food choices. In our book Healthy Eating Policy and Political Philosophy: A Public Reason Approach (Barnhill and Bonotti 2022), we argue that both paternalistic justifications for healthy eating efforts and anti-paternalistic arguments against them can be grounded in perfectionist views that overly prioritize some values over others. We therefore propose a more inclusive, public reason approach to healthy eating policy that will be appealing to those who take pluralism and cultural diversity seriously, by providing a framework through which different kinds of values, including but not limited to autonomy and health, can be factored into the public justification for healthy eating efforts. Additionally, the book adopts a ‘farm to fork’ approach to the ethics of healthy eating efforts: it engages with theories and debates in political philosophy, considers the implications of different theoretical positions for healthy eating efforts, and then develops a framework for assessing policies that can be used by researchers and policymakers. As well as offering a novel normative analysis of healthy eating policy, we also provide a theoretical framework that will be applicable beyond healthy eating policy to a wide range of public policy scenarios. We are extremely grateful to the contributors to this symposium for their thoughtful commentaries on our book. In this article, we provide a critical reflection on the issues they raise with regard to some key aspects of our analysis.

Coercion and justification: a global public reason perspective on Security Council reform

AbstractThe Security Council is the only international body capable of authorizing the use of force in cases other than self‐defence. Its main mission is to protect international peace and security, and this has been reinterpreted in recent decades to include the protection of human rights in situations of grave humanitarian emergencies as well as to allow it to exercise legislative powers. Given this extraordinary range of functions, it is worth asking whether the Security Council is justified in their exercise. Should the international community entrust such power to an institution with the authority, structure, and decision‐making process of the Security Council? This article explores the implications of a distinctive tradition in political philosophy – namely, the public reason tradition – for judging the adequacy of some of the proposals for reform of the Security Council. I show that the scope of authority of the Security Council, as well as some of the proposals for reform, can be challenged on the basis of an emerging global public culture.

Explainability and the Epistemic Division of Labour in Adjudication

The ‘black box’ quality of contemporary algorithmic tools raises concerns related to their use in court because of the law’s emphasis on explanations, transparency, and public reasons. We argue that the problems of explainability associated with contemporary algorithmic tools are, from a legal perspective, neither sui generis nor irreconcilable with existing norms. We distinguish between the types of explanations required by fact-finders and those required from judges. We conclude that apparent tensions can be reconciled by attending to the epistemic division of labour between the legal and scientific communities, contextualizing expert evidence appropriately, and distinguishing between explanation as reconstruction and as justification.

Verbal Agreements and the Pressure of Instability against the Convergence Conception of Political Liberalism

Political liberalism, or public reason liberalism, has taken a decisive turn towards the Convergence Conception of public justification and away from the orthodox Consensus Conception. Convergence theorists argue that public justification should be understood as all reasonable people having some conclusive reason to endorse coercively enforced moral rules that are issue and context specific. They argue for this on the basis that, given the nature of deep moral and political disagreement, only the Convergence Conception can show reasonable people how to achieve a stable political order. I argue however that the Convergence Conception faces the Verbal Agreement Objection which puts pressure on its claims to show people how to maintain a political order. This is because at its core it involves a tension between its account of the nature of the agreements that constitute public justification and the objects of those agreements that make it highly sensitive to context changes.

Management of Laying Hen Farms in France Infected by Salmonella spp.: Comparison of Three Strategies

The presence of Salmonella spp. on laying hen farms turns out to be a major problem for public health reasons, mainly related to foodborne illnesses that may arise due to ingestion of contaminated eggs. When Salmonella spp. infection on farms is confirmed by laboratory analysis, animal health measures are applied on the establishment, including total elimination of animals. The aim of this study is to describe three different methods of managing Salmonella enteritidis-infected laying hen farms, all of which were used within the Moselle department (France). The methods chosen, culling, use of a mobile CO2 container, or lethal injection with T-61, depend on specific starting conditions, including the number of birds and proximity to an authorized slaughterhouse. This study, therefore, helps to identify the main problems with each method and provides recommendations for improving the management of Salmonella spp.-infected laying hen farms, where antibiotics cannot be used.

Islamic Theology and the Crisis of Contemporary Science: Naquib al-Attas’ “Metaphysical Critique” and a Husserlian Alternative

ABSTRACT This article evaluates the “metaphysical critique” of contemporary science by the Islamic philosophical theologian Naquib al-Attas in his Prolegomena to a Metaphysics of Islām. I argue that al-Attas' critique is dialectically inappropriate because it relies on specific, and non-publicly verifiable, interpretations of revelation and spiritual intuition. I contrast this with the work of Edmund Husserl, especially in his The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology, which I show can sustain a viable critique of science through the phenomenological grounding of public reason. I also assess the prospect for Islamic engagement with Husserl on this topic.

BUREAUCRATISM AND THE FIGHT AGAINST IT IN THE YEARS OF PERESTROIKA ON THE PAGES OF THE NEWSPAPER “KIROVSKAYA PRAVDA”

BUREAUCRATISM AND THE FIGHT AGAINST IT IN THE YEARS OF PERESTROIKA ON THE PAGES OF THE NEWSPAPER “KIROVSKAYA PRAVDA”

The Goal of Sexual Activism: Toleration, Recognition, or Both?

Sexual activism (for, e.g., participants in the LGBT+ or BDSM communities) is prima facie commendable, at least for the liberal. However, it is unclear whether the end goal of such activism is toleration or recognition. The argument of this paper is that, on the level of authoritative political and social-moral rules, toleration is the only justifiable goal, while recognition may be pursued as an ideal outside the sphere of political and social-moral rules, that is, in civil society. The argument builds on a Gausian public reason understanding of justifiability, emphasizing reasonable disagreement and a diversity of viewpoints.

Precision Medicine and Rough Justice: Wicked Problems.

What exactly is a "wicked problem"? It is a social or economic problem that is so complex and so interconnected with other issues that it is extraordinarily difficult or impossible to resolve. This is because all proposed resolutions generate equally complex, equally wicked problems. In this essay, I argue that precision medicine, especially in the context of the U.S. healthcare system, generates numerous wicked problems related to distributive justice. Further, I argue that there are no easy solutions to these wicked problems. The need for trade-offs is inescapable. Rough justice is the best outcome we can hope for, and that outcome requires a commitment to processes of public reason that are fair and inclusive.

The Role of Social Research in Opposing Injustice

This study uses a post-disciplinary and synthetic methodology to explore how social research can contribute to helping those struggling against injustice. First, it reviews recent initiatives that have emerged from sociology and moral and political philosophy to reconnect normative inquiry with empirical social science. Second, applying Amartya Sen’s nonideal theory of justice, it brings these diverse initiatives together and develops a systematic proposal for social justice. It proposes that (1) injustice can be reduced through public reasoning in which people exercise practical reason on what constitutes injustice and what actions should be taken to remedy it; (2) all of us are agents of change whose reasoning and action have leverage in reducing injustice; and (3) theoretical concepts invented by academics can move public reasoning towards the reduction of injustice by affording people, including those struggling against injustice, with critical perspectives and discursive resources. Third, to increase the effectiveness of the proposal, it delineates three routes through which academics can contribute to making public reasoning more inclusive, interactive, and iterative: (1) as public intellectuals, academics can disseminate their normative and empirical research to the general public and make public reasoning more interactive; (2) through coalition-building, academics can help marginalised people come up with solutions to the injustices they face and help magnify marginalised people’s voices to influence public reasoning; and (3) through teaching, academics can cultivate normative consciousness amongst students coupled with their habit of developing refined opinions, using impartial spectators, and acknowledging the human rights of different others, all while working towards making universities more inclusive.

Perfectionism, Public Reason and Excellences

Journal Article Perfectionism, Public Reason and Excellences Get access A Perfectionist Theory of JusticeBy Collis Tahzib Oxford University Press. 2022. 368 pp. Franz Mang Franz Mang The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China flmang@cuhk.edu.hk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Analysis, anad023, https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anad023 Published: 11 June 2023

Healthy Foods, Healthy Diets, and Healthy Eating: Beyond Ethics and Political Philosophy

Healthy Eating Policy and Political Philosophy: A Public Reason Approach by Barnhill and Bonotti is a terrific effort to provide a systematic method for appraising the ethical aspects, broadly understood, of regulations and policies connected to food, diet, and eating. In this commentary I purport to highlight the originality and the merits of the volume by considering what it doesn’t accomplish in three of its parts. I first call attention to the specific construction of the subject matter, namely on the question whether to be at stake are eating behaviors, dietary patterns, or certain food items; while Barnhill and Bonotti do not problematize it, this question is arguably pivotal to design effective policies and to adequately assess them. Second, I discuss the technical concept of “constitutive evaluative standards,” used by Barnhill and Bonotti to lay out their view, as this part of their work calls for an alignment with research on the philosophy of nutritional science and, more generally, philosophy of science. Finally, I take up the technical concept of “accessible reason,” which plays a central role in ascribing the public status to reasons, advocating for a more thorough determination of this concept based on recent work in epistemology.

Sustained Decline of Direct General Practitioner Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions in Australia and Paucity in Details of Australian Reports in Safety Advisories.

There have been substantial changes in the nature of reporting pathways and review of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in Australia since the establishment of the now defunct Advisory Committee on Safety of Medicines early in 2010. The aim of this study was to (1) examine the reporting in Australia of suspected ADRs from various sources, including general practitioners (GPs), since 1990; (2) compare the reporting of Australian GPs with that in two other countries (New Zealand and the United Kingdom [UK]) with comparable safety monitoring programmes for the period 2007-2019; and (3) explore the extent to which Australian reporting of suspected adverse reactions has motivated communication to healthcare professionals in the period 1995-2019. Annual reporting of sources of ADRs in Australia were obtained from Government reports, the Australian Statistics in Medicines and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) websites. Details of the annual reporting by GPs in the UK were obtained from published sources and have been provided on request by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Details of the annual reporting by GPs in New Zealand were provided on request from the Centre for Adverse Reaction Monitoring. All issues of the Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin were accessed from the National Library of Australia, and issues of the Medicines Safety Update from February 1995 to December 2019 were accessed online from the TGA website. Each issue was searched to identify and score safety advisories. From 1990 to 2002 in Australia, overall reporting gradually increased, and the three major groups of reporters (GPs, hospitals and sponsors) each contributed about 30%. The relative contributions to reporting changed in the period 2002 to 2009. There was then a steep fall in reporting from GPs and the start of a very marked increase in reporting from product sponsors. GP reporting in Australia was lower than the two other comparable countries (New Zealand and the UK), and continues to fall, while in the UK at least, GP reporting is rising. The analysis of safety advisories shows a relatively stable Australian content from 1995 to 2008, followed by a sharp decline, so that by 2019 and 2020 there was barely any Australian reporting-driven content. In 1995 and 1996, Australian reports of suspected adverse reactions were the sole apparent reason for the publication of safety advisories. From 1997 to about 2008, Australian reports of suspected adverse reactions were the major reason for publication, but after this time, Australian reports became less important. During this later period, the apparent motive for publication of the safety advisory shifted to being based primarily on a publication in the medical literature, or publicity, but was sometimes based on an overseas regulator's advice or action, or action by a product sponsor. It is our contention that the decline in GP reporting in Australia and the current paucity in details of Australian reports in safety advisories are closely linked.