The Luckless and the Doomed: Contractualism on Justified Risk-Imposition

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Luckless and the Doomed

T2 - Contractualism on Justified Risk-Imposition

AU - Holm, Sune Hannibal

PY - 2018/4/1

Y1 - 2018/4/1

N2 - Several authors have argued that contractualism faces a dilemma when it comes to justifying risks generated by socially valuable activities. At the heart of the matter is the question of whether contractualists should adopt an ex post or an ex ante perspective when assessing whether an action or policy is justifiable to each person. In this paper I argue for the modest conclusion that ex post contractualism is a live option notwithstanding recent criticisms raised by proponents of the ex ante perspective. I then consider how an ex post contractualist can best respond to the problem that it seems to prohibit a range of intuitively permissible and socially valuable activities.

AB - Several authors have argued that contractualism faces a dilemma when it comes to justifying risks generated by socially valuable activities. At the heart of the matter is the question of whether contractualists should adopt an ex post or an ex ante perspective when assessing whether an action or policy is justifiable to each person. In this paper I argue for the modest conclusion that ex post contractualism is a live option notwithstanding recent criticisms raised by proponents of the ex ante perspective. I then consider how an ex post contractualist can best respond to the problem that it seems to prohibit a range of intuitively permissible and socially valuable activities.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - risk

KW - Ethics

UR - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10677-018-9882-x?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst

U2 - 10.1007/s10677-018-9882-x

DO - 10.1007/s10677-018-9882-x

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1386-2820

VL - 21

SP - 231

EP - 244

JO - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

JF - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

IS - 2

ER -