Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-zh294 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-11T21:34:53.624Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

POLITICAL IDEALS AND THE FEASIBILITY FRONTIER

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2015

David Wiens
David Wiens*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, Department of Political Science, 9500 Gilman Dr., 323 SSB #0521, La Jolla, CA, 92092-0521, USA. Email: [email protected]. URL: www.dwiens.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

I present an analysis of feasibility that generalizes the economic concept of a production possibility frontier and develop a model of the feasibility frontier using the familiar possible worlds technology. I then use the model to show that we cannot reasonably expect that adopting political ideals as long-term reform objectives will guide us toward the realization of morally optimal feasible states of affairs. I conclude by proposing that political philosophers turn their attention to the analysis of actual social failures rather than political ideals.

Keywords

feasibilitypolitical idealspolitical possibilityideal and nonideal theory
Type
Articles
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , November 2015 , pp. 447 - 477
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, E. 2010. The Imperative of Integration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, G. 2007. Economics. In A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, ed. Goodin, R. E., Pettit, P. and Pogge, T., 2nd edn, 118–152. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Brennan, G. 2013. Feasibility in optimizing ethics. Social Philosophy and Policy 20: 314–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, G. and Pettit, P.. 2005. The feasibility issue. In Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy, ed. Jackson, F. and Smith, M., 258–279. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brennan, G. and Southwood, N.. 2007. Feasibility in action and attitude. In Hommage à Wlodek. Philosophical Papers Dedicated to Wlodek Rabinowicz, ed. Rønnow-Rasmussen, T., Petersson, B., Josefsson, J. and Egonsson, D.. Available online at www.fil.lu.se/hommageawlodek.Google Scholar
Buchanan, A. 2004. Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for International Law. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. A. 2008. Rescuing Justice and Equality New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. A. 2009. Why Not Socialism? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cowen, T. 2007. The importance of defining the feasible set. Economics and Philosophy 23: 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estlund, D. 2011. Human nature and the limits (if any) of political philosophy. Philosophy & Public Affairs 39: 207–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estlund, D. 2014. Utopophobia. Philosophy and Public Affairs 42: 113–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gheaus, A. 2013. The feasibility constraint on the concept of justice. Philosophical Quarterly 63: 445–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, P. 2012. Climate change: those creating problems least willing to take action. Interview in ZeeNews.com. February 2012. http://zeenews.india.com/news/exclusive/climate-change-those-creating-problems-least-willing-to-take-action_756232.html.Google Scholar
Gilabert, P. 2012 a. Comparative assessments of justice, political feasibility, and ideal theory. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 15: 39–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilabert, P. 2012 b. From Global Poverty to Global Equality. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilabert, P. and Lawford-Smith, H.. 2012. Political feasibility: a conceptual exploration. Political Studies 60: 809–825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamlin, A. and Stemplowska, Z.. 2012. Theory, ideal theory and the theory of ideals. Political Studies Review 10: 48–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, A. 2012. Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jubb, R. 2012. Tragedies of non-ideal theory. European Journal of Political Theory 11: 229–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, J. and Johnson, J.. 2011. The Priority of Democracy: Political Consequences of Pragmatism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kratzer, A. 1991. Modality. In Semantics: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, ed. von Stechow, A. and Wunderlich, D., 639–650. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Lawford-Smith, H. 2013. Understanding political feasibility. Journal of Political Philosophy 21: 243–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. 1973. Counterfactuals and comparative possibility. Journal of Philosophical Logic 2: 418–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipsey, R. G. and Lancaster, K.. 1956. The general theory of second best. Review of Economic Studies 24: 11–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petroski, H. 2006. Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pogge, T.W. 2008. World Poverty and Human Rights, 2nd edn.Malden, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Räikkä, J. 1998. The feasibility condition in political theory. Journal of Political Philosophy 6: 27–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1999. A Theory of Justice, 2nd edn.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robeyns, I. 2008. Ideal theory in theory and practice. Social Theory and Practice 34: 341–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sangiovanni, A. 2008. Normative political theory: a flight from reality? In Political Thought and International Relations: Variations on a Realist Theme, ed. Bell, D., 219–239. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schmidtz, D. 2011. Nonideal theory: what it is and what it needs to be. Ethics 121: 772–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. 1981. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Simmons, A. J. 2010. Ideal and nonideal theory. Philosophy & Public Affairs 38: 5–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stalnaker, R. C. 1968. A theory of conditionals. In Studies in Logical Theory, ed. Rescher, N., 98–112. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stemplowska, Z. 2008. What's ideal about ideal theory? Social Theory and Practice 34: 319–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Usigbe, L. 2012. Continental free trade regime not feasible in 2017 – Jonathan. Nigerian Tribune. 30 January 2012. http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/35122-continental-free-trade-regime-not-feasible-in-2017-jonathan.Google Scholar
Valentini, L. 2012 a. Ideal vs. non-ideal theory: a conceptual map. Philosophy Compass 7: 654–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentini, L. 2012 b. Justice in a Globalized World: A Normative Framework. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wiens, D. 2012. Prescribing institutions without ideal theory. Journal of Political Philosophy 20: 45–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiens, D. 2013. Demands of justice, feasible alternatives, and the need for causal analysis. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 16: 325–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiens, D. 2014. Achieving global justice: why failures matter more than ideals. In Making Global Institutions Work: Power, Accountability and Change, ed. Brennan, K., 17–32. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiens, D. 2015. Against ideal guidance. Journal of Politics 77: 433–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ypi, L. 2012. Global Justice and Avant-Garde Political Agency. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar