A Contractualist Moral Philosophy

Abstract

Introduction:  These thirteen essays were first published between 1972 and 2001. Despite the subtitle, they contribute to moral (and legal), as well as political, philosophy. A brief introduction sketches the development of some of Scanlon’s views. (More on this would have been welcome.) The essays are impressive not only in their quality, characteristic of Scanlon, but also in their range. As well as highly influential classics such as ‘Preference and Urgency’ and ‘Contractualism and Utilitarianism’, there are essays on freedom of expression, rights, due process, human rights, content regulation, quality of life, tolerance, inequality, punishment, promises and contracts. What unites these diverse essays, Scanlon says, is concern with the standards by which social institutions should be assessed. Scanlon is particularly concerned with the tension between assessment of institutions by the degree to which they promote human wellbeing and by whether they respect the rights of individuals. By deepening our understanding of the concepts of rights, justice, liberty and equality, each of which may conflict with the goal of well-being, Scanlon aims to place these values within a common moral framework (p. 1). This is the contractualist moral theory that Scanlon outlines and develops, according to which the rightness of actions, policies and institutions depends on their justifiability to individuals rather than on the value of their consequences (p. 3).