Security, Knowledge and Well-being

Journal of Moral Philosophy 8 (1):68-91 (2011)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper investigates whether being “physically insecure” (being at risk of not continuing to meet one's physical needs in the future) should be thought of as a constituent of current wellbeing. In §1, it is argued that we cannot understand the value of security in terms of “freedom from fear”. In §2, it is argued that the reliablist approach to epistemology can help us to construct an account of why physical security is valuable, by relating security to the conditions of agency for practically and epistemically limited animals. In §3, this argument is compared with other attempts to understand the value of physical security. In §4, the relationship between security and threats of rights violation is clarified. In §5, the epistemic analogy of §2 is used to suggest a difference between the concepts of “security” and “capability”

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Reve{a,i}ling the Risks.Wolter Pieters - 2010 - Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 14 (3):194-206.
The ethics of care: a feminist approach to human security.Fiona Robinson - 2011 - Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Where computer security meets national security.Helen Nissenbaum - 2005 - Ethics and Information Technology 7 (2):61-73.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-03-06

Downloads
135 (#125,644)

6 months
6 (#201,673)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Stephen John
Cambridge University

Citations of this work

‘But You Could Have Hurt Me!’: Risk and Harm.Joseph Bowen - 2022 - Law and Philosophy 41 (4):517-546.
Climate-Related Insecurity, Loss and Damage.Jonathan Herington - 2017 - Ethics, Policy and Environment 20 (2):184-194.
The Contribution of Security to Well-being.Jonathan Herington - 2019 - Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 14 (3).
Freedom, security, and the COVID-19 pandemic.Josette Anna Maria Daemen - forthcoming - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

World Poverty and Individual Freedom.Nicole Hassoun - 2008 - American Philosophical Quarterly 45 (2): 191-198.

Add more references