Applying Reflective Equilibrium

This open access book provides the first explicit case study for an application of the method of reflective equilibrium (RE), using it to develop and defend a precautionary principle. It thereby makes an important and original contribution to questions of philosophical method and methodology. The book shows step-by-step how RE is applied, and develops a methodological framework which will be useful for everyone who wishes to use reflective equilibrium. With respect to precautionary principles, the book demonstrates how a rights-based precautionary principle can be constructed and defended. The case study succeeds in demonstrating that RE can be successfully applied and puts real constraints on the justification process. This is all the more remarkable as the case study was designed as an open-ended process, without presupposing any specific results. This book will be highly relevant both to people interested in philosophical methodology and epistemology, as well as to researchers who are interested in using philosophical methods and tools and applying them to practical problems.

This open access book provides the first explicit case study for an application of the method of reflective equilibrium (RE), using it to develop and defend a precautionary principle. It thereby makes an important and original contribution to questions of philosophical method and methodology. The book shows step-by-step how RE is applied, and develops a methodological framework which will be useful for everyone who wishes to use reflective equilibrium. With respect to precautionary principles, the book demonstrates how a rights-based precautionary principle can be constructed and defended. The case study succeeds in demonstrating that RE can be successfully applied and puts real constraints on the justification process. This is all the more remarkable as the case study was designed as an open-ended process, without presupposing any specific results. This book will be highly relevant both to people interested in philosophical methodology and epistemology, as well as to researchers who are interested in using philosophical methods and tools and applying them to practical problems.

We all have beliefs, even strong convictions, about what is just and fair in our social arrangements. How should these beliefs and the theories of justice that incorporate them guide our thinking about practical matters of justice? This wide-ranging collection of essays by one of the foremost medical ethicists in the United States explores the claim that justification in ethics, whether concerning matters of theory or practice, involves achieving coherence or "reflective equilibrium" (as Rawls has called it) between our moral and nonmoral beliefs. Among the practical issues the volume addresses are the design of health-care institutions, the distribution of goods between the old and the young, and fairness in hiring and firing practices. In combining ethical theory and practical ethics this volume will prove especially valuable to philosophers concerned with ethics and applied ethics, political theorists, bioethicists, and others involved in the study of public policy.

This is a comprehensive book on philosophical methodology. A team of leading philosophers present original essays on various aspects of how philosophy should be and is done. They explore broad traditions and approaches, topics in philosophical methodology, and the interconnections between philosophy and neighbouring fields.

Robert Heeger has been professor of ethics at Utrecht University since 1977, both at the Faculty of Theology and at the Faculty of Philosophy. Since 1985, he has also been teaching at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Before he came to Utrecht, he bad worked at Uppsala University for many years. He has always stayed in close contact with bis Swedish colleagues, and twice he was a visiting professor at Uppsala University. With bis eastern-German background, bis roots partly in Russia, bis thesis on the Italian philosopher Gramsei and bis interest in Anglo-American analytical philosophy he has a broad international orientation. It is no wonder, therefore, that he always feit much at home in the Societas Ethica, the European Society for Research in Ethics, which he served as its president from 1991 to 1995. Robert Heeger is primarily a teacher and excels as a discussion partner. With bis sharp analytical mind and bis great intellectual curiosity he not only exposes critically the weak points in an argument, but often also brings up creative suggestions to improve it. Thus he has greatly influenced bis many students (he co-supervised fourteen doctoral theses) and bis colleagues, bothin the Netherlands and abroad. Moreover, he was one of the first moral philosophers in the Netherlands, and even in Europe, to be involved in environmental ethics and in animal and veterinary ethics.

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.

Applied philosophy has been a growing area of research for the last 40 years. Until now, however, almost all of this research has been centered around the field of ethics. A Companion to Applied Philosophy breaks new ground, demonstrating that all areasof philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind, can be applied, and are relevant to questions of everyday life. This perennial topic in philosophy provides an overview of these various applied philosophy developments, highlighting similarities and differences between various areas of applied philosophy, and examining the very nature of this topic. It is an area to which many of the towering figures in the history of philosophy have contributed, and this timely Companion demonstrates how various historical contributions are actually contributions within applied philosophy, even if they are not traditionally seen as such. The Companion contains 42 essays covering major areas of philosophy; the articles themselves are all original contributions to the literature and represent the state of the art on this topic, as well as offering a map to the current debates.

A guide to methods in analytical political theory, offering concrete advice and clear examples of good and bad practice.