Synopses & Reviews
This volume collects thirteen of David Schmidtz's essays on the question of what it takes to live a good life, given that we live in a social and natural world. Part One defends a non-maximizing conception of rational choice, explains how even ultimate goals can be rationally chosen, defends the rationality of concern and regard for others (even to the point of being willing to die for a cause), and explains why decision theory is necessarily incomplete as a tool for addressing such issues.
Part Two uses the tools of analytic philosophy to explain what we can do to be deserving ,what is wrong with the idea that we ought to do as much good as we can, why mutual aid is good, but why the welfare state does not work as a way of institutionalizing mutual aid, and why transferring wealth from those who need it less to those who need it more can be a bad idea even from a utilitarian perspective. Most ambitiously, Part Two offers an overarching, pluralistic moral theory that defines the nature and limits of our obligations to each other and to our individual selves.
Part Three discusses the history and economic logic of alternative property institutions, both private and communal, and explains why economic logic is an indispensable tool in the field of environmental conflict resolution. In the final essay, Schmidtz brings the volume full circle by considering the nature and limits of our obligations to nonhuman species, and how the status of nonhuman species ought to enter into our deliberations about what sort of life is worth living.
Synopsis
"Schmidtz's central question -- what counts as a life well lived?' -- is as near as may be the same as Plato's: 'for our inquiry is not about some chance matter but about how we should live our lives' (Republic 344e). Here, then, is a prime example of how to continue 'the conversation that Plato began'... an altogether satisfying, rewarding, and above all, challenging read." -
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Part of what ties the essays together and makes the whole more than the sum of its parts is the fact that almost all of the pieces, in one way or another, address the question of what counts as a well-lived human life. Perhaps more important, they are united by a distinctive and attractive methodological approach, one that combines the high degree of analytical clarity and rigor that one would expect from a first-rate philosopher with a kind of commonsense wisdom that is not always so common, an attention to empirical detail that goes well beyond the use of examples as mere illustrations, and a refreshingly humanistic concern with life as it is lived by people as they actually are... Those who are already familiar with Schmidtz's body of work will welcome Person, Polis, Planet as a worthy brief of his accomplishments over the last fifteen years or so. And for those who have not yet discovered Schmidtz, the collection will provide a superb introduction to his work and will likely prompt readers to seek out more of his writing." -Ethics
About the Author
David Schmidtz is Kendrick Professor of Philosophy, joint Professor of Economics, and founding Director of the Center for Philosophy of Freedom at the University of Arizona. He is author of
Rational Choice and Moral Agency,
Elements of Justice, and co-author of
Social Welfare and Individual Responsibility.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgment
1. Introduction
Person
2. Choosing Strategies
3. Choosing Ends
4. Reasons for Altruism
5. What Nozick Did For Decision Theory (by David Schmidtz and Sarah Wright)
Polis
6. How To Deserve
7. Separateness, Suffering, and Moral Theory
8. Moral Dualism
9. Diminishing Marginal Utility
10. Guarantees
Planet
11. The Institution of Property
12. Reinventing the Commons (by David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott)
13. Natural Enemies
14. Are All Species Equal?