Intentions and Discrimination in Hiring

Journal of Moral Philosophy 9 (1):55-74 (2012)
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Abstract

Fundamentally, intentions do not matter to the permissibility of actions, according to Thomas Scanlon (among others). Yet, discriminatory intentions seem essential to certain kinds of direct discrimination in hiring and firing, and appear to be something by virtue of which, in part at least, these kinds of discrimination are morally impermissible. Scanlon's account of the wrongness of discrimination attempts to accommodate this appearance through the notion of the expressive meaning of discriminatory acts and a certain view about how permissibility relates to the meaning of actions. This paper explores the scope, strengths and weaknesses of this account. Specifically, it challenges the view that discrimination reflecting hierarchical value judgments necessarily involves a wrong that renders such discrimination more objectionable than other forms

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Citations of this work

No Disrespect - But That Account Does Not Explain the Badness of Discrimination.Frej Klem Thomsen - 2022 - Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 23 (3):420-447.
Should the Best Qualified Be Appointed?Shlomi Segall - 2012 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 9 (1):31-54.
The Injustice of Discrimination.Carl Knight - 2013 - South African Journal of Philosophy 32 (1):47-59.
Unfreedom or Mere Inability? The Case of Biomedical Enhancement.Ji Young Lee - forthcoming - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.
Making Sense of Discrimination.Re'em Segev - 2014 - Ratio Juris 27 (1):47-78.

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Reaction Qualifications Revisited.Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen - 2009 - Social Theory and Practice 35 (3):413-439.

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