The Question of the Agent of Change
Journal of Political Philosophy 28 (4):355-377 (2020)
Abstract
In non-ideal theory, the political philosopher seeks to identify an injustice, synthesize social scientific work to diagnose its underlying causes, and propose morally permissible and potentially efficacious remedies. This paper explores the role in non-ideal theory of the identification of a plausible agent of change who might bring about the proposed remedies. I argue that the question of the agent of change is connected with the other core tasks of diagnosing injustice and proposing practical remedies. In this connection, I criticize two linked postures that nonideal theorists sometimes adopt: a technocratic mode of neutral policy recommendation, whereby philosophers say what “we” must do to address some problem, without attending to the way agency enters the problem and its possible resolution; and the tendency to treat non-ideal theory as primarily consisting int eh enumeration of duties we are failing to fulfill, and specification of who is under what additional duties in light of this shortfall. My argument is that these tendencies fail to register in a coherent way the practical character of political philosophy.Author's Profile
My notes
Similar books and articles
Die sosiaal-wetenskaplike begrip change agent toegepas op die Efesiërbrief: ’n toepassing tot kerklike welwese.Barry J. van Wyk - 2017 - HTS Theological Studies 73 (4):1-8.
Why Are You Betraying Your Class?Avishai Margalit - 2011 - European Journal of Philosophy 19 (2):171-183.
Climate Change and the Moral Agent: Individual Duties in an Interdependent World.Elizabeth Cripps - 2013 - Oxford University Press.
The Representation of Action.Anton Ford - 2017 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 80:217-233.
"Ought" and the Perspective of the Agent.Benjamin Kiesewitter - 2011 - Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 5 (3):1-24.
Regretful Decisions and Climate Change.Rebecca Livernois - 2018 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 48 (2):168-191.
A model of non-informational preference change.Franz Dietrich & Christian List - 2011 - Journal of Theoretical Politics 23 (2):145-164.
When Do Introspection Axioms Matter for Multi-Agent Epistemic Reasoning?Wesley H. Holliday, Yifeng Ding & Cedegao Zhang - 2019 - Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science 297:121–139.
NO Revision and NO Contraction.Gregory Wheeler & Marco Alberti - 2011 - Minds and Machines 21 (3):411-430.
Action, movement, and neurophysiology.Don Locke - 1974 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 17 (1-4):23 – 42.
Belief change for introspective agents.Sten Lindström & Wlodek Rabinowicz - 1999 - Spinning Ideas, Electronic Essays Dedicated to Peter Gärdenfors on His Fiftieth Birthday.
Analytics
Added to PP
2019-10-25
Downloads
54 (#220,350)
6 months
9 (#96,348)
2019-10-25
Downloads
54 (#220,350)
6 months
9 (#96,348)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Individualism, Structuralism, and Climate Change.Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva & Daniel Kelly - 2021 - Environmental Communication 1.
The agents of justice.Colin Hickey, Tim Meijers, Ingrid Robeyns & Dick Timmer - 2021 - Philosophy Compass 16.
Activist‐led Education and Egalitarian Social Change.Cain Shelley - 2021 - Journal of Political Philosophy 29 (4):456-479.
Murray Bookchin and the Value of Democratic Municipalism.Cain Shelley - forthcoming - European Journal of Political Theory:1-22.
Freedom‐amelioration, transformative change, and emancipatory orders.Lukas Schmid - 2022 - European Journal of Philosophy 30 (4):1378-1392.