Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:19:14.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

VALUE NEUTRALITY AND THE RANKING OF OPPORTUNITY SETS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

Michael Garnett
Michael Garnett*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK. Email: [email protected]. URL: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/philosophy/our-staff/academics/garnett.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

I argue that a liberal commitment to value neutrality is best honoured by maintaining a pure cardinality component in our rankings of opportunity sets. Two challenges to this claim are considered. The first holds that cardinality rankings are unnecessary for neutrality, since what matters from this perspective is the variety (and not the mere size) of opportunity sets. The second holds that pure cardinality metrics are insufficient for neutrality, because opportunities cannot be individuated into countable entities without presupposing some relevantly partisan evaluative perspective. In each case, a clear understanding of the liberal basis for valuing liberty yields a satisfying response.

Keywords

Freedomlibertyopportunityliberalismneutrality
Type
Articles
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 99 - 119
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.)

References

REFERENCES

Arneson, R. J. 1985. Freedom and desire. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 15/3: 425–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arrow, K. J. 1995. A note on freedom and flexibility. In Choice, Welfare, and Development: A Festschrift in Honour of Amartya K. Sen, ed. Basu, K., Pattanaik, P. and Suzumura, K., 7–15. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bavetta, S. and Del Seta, M.. 2001. Constraints and the measurement of freedom of choice. Theory and Decision 50: 213–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benn, S. I. 1988. A Theory of Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bossert, W., Pattanaik, P. K. and Xu, Y.. 2003. Similarity of options and the measurement of diversity. Journal of Theoretical Politics 15: 405–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, I. 1999. A Measure of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, I. 2004. Choice, freedom, and freedom of choice. Social Choice and Welfare 22: 61–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, I. 2015. Value-freeness and value-neutrality in the analysis of political concepts. Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy 1.Google Scholar
Carter, I. and Kramer, M. H.. 2008. How changes in one's preferences can affect one's freedom (and how they cannot): a reply to Dowding and van Hees. Economics and Philosophy 24: 81–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colburn, B. 2010. Anti-perfectionisms and autonomy. Analysis 70: 247–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crocker, L. 1980. Positive Liberty. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowding, K. and van Hees, M.. 2007. Counterfactual success and negative freedom. Economics and Philosophy 23: 141–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinberg, J. 1984. Harm to Others. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Garnett, M. 2007. Ignorance, incompetence and the concept of liberty. Journal of Political Philosophy 15: 428–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaus, G. F. 1996. Justificatory Liberalism: An Essay on Epistemology and Political Theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaus, G. F. 2009a. State neutrality and controversial values in On Liberty. In Mill's On Liberty: A Critical Guide, ed. Ten, C. L., 83–104. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gaus, G. F. 2009b. The moral foundations of liberal neutrality. In Contemporary Debates in Political Philosophy, ed. Christiano, T. and Christman, J., 81–98. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Gaus, G. F. and Courtland, S. D.. 2011. Liberalism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), ed. Zalta, E.N., http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2011/entries/liberalism.Google Scholar
Hampton, J. 1989. Should political philosophy be done without metaphysics? Ethics 99: 791–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayek, F. 2006 [1960]. The Constitution of Liberty. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hobhouse, L. T. 1994. Liberalism and Other Writings, ed. Meadowcroft, J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klemisch-Ahlert, M. 1993. Freedom of choice: a comparison of different rankings of opportunity sets. Social Choice and Welfare 10: 189–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, M. H. 2003. The Quality of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukathas, C. 2003. The Liberal Archipelago. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larmore, C. 1987. Patterns of Moral Complexity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larmore, C. 1990. Political liberalism. Political Theory 18: 339–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mill, J. S. 1999 [1859].On Liberty, ed. Alexander, E.. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Nehring, K. and Puppe, C.. 2002. A theory of diversity. Econometrica 70: 1155–1198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. 2011. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattanaik, P. and Xu, Y.. 1990. On ranking opportunity sets in terms of freedom of choice. Recherches Economiques de Louvain 56: 383–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattanaik, P. and Xu, Y.. 1998. On preference and freedom. Theory and Decision 44: 173–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattanaik, P. and Xu, Y.. 2000. On diversity and freedom of choice. Mathematical Social Sciences 40: 123–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peragine, V. and Romero-Medina, A.. 2006. On preference, freedom and diversity. Social Choice and Welfare 27: 29–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 2013. Political Liberalism: Expanded Edition. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, J. 1986. The Morality of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, J. 1990. Facing diversity: the case for epistemic abstinence. Philosophy & Public Affairs 19: 3–46.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, E. F. 2000. On measuring freedom. Journal of Theoretical Politics 12: 205–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1990. Welfare, freedom and social choice: a reply. Recherches Economiques de Louvain 56: 451–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. K 1991. Welfare, preference and freedom. Journal of Econometrics 50: 15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1993. Markets and freedoms: achievements and limitations of the market mechanism in promoting individual freedoms. Oxford Economic Papers 45: 519–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steiner, H. 1994. An Essay on Rights. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sugden, R. 1998. The metric of opportunity. Economics and Philosophy 14: 307–337.Google Scholar
Sugden, R. 2003. Opportunity as a space for individuality: its value and the impossibility of measuring it. Ethics 113: 783–809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swanton, C. 1992. Freedom: A Coherence Theory. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. 1979. What's wrong with negative liberty. In The Idea of Freedom, ed. Ryan, A., 175–194. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Hees, M. 2000. Legal Reductionism and Freedom. Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Hees, M. 2004. Freedom of choice and diversity of options: some difficulties. Social Choice and Welfare 22: 253–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Humboldt, W. 2008 [1792]. The Limits of State Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wall, S. 1996. Liberalism, Perfectionism and Restraint. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weitzman, M. L. 1992. On diversity. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107: 363–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitzman, M. L. 1998. The Noah's Ark problem. Econometrica 66: 1279–1298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar