Paul Voice | Bennington College

Paul Voice

Bennington College, Philosophy, Faculty Member

Bennington College, Philosophy, Faculty Member |

Political Philosophy

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Papers

Rawls explained: from fairness to utopia

Choice Reviews Online, 2011

John Rawls was arguably the most important political philosopher of the 20th century. Barely a wo... more John Rawls was arguably the most important political philosopher of the 20th century. Barely a word of political philosophy is written today that is not indebted in some way to the philosophical paradigm that Rawls bequeathed. Rawls Explained sets out the thinker's complex arguments in a way that makes them accessible to first-time readers of his hugely influential work. Both clear in its exposition of Rawls' ideas and true to the complex purposes of his arguments, this book also attends to the variety of objections that have been made to them. The book is divided into three parts corresponding to the three books that form the core of Rawls's theory: A Theory of Justice, Political Liberalism, and The Law of Peoples. Each section of the book ends with a survey of some of the main criticisms of the arguments coupled with Rawls's strongest counterarguments.

The True Confessions of a White Rawlsian Liberal: An Argument for a Capacities Approach to Democratic Legitimacy

South African Journal of Philosophy, 2004

Abstract This paper takes as its point of departure the constitutional talks in South Africa in t... more Abstract This paper takes as its point of departure the constitutional talks in South Africa in the early 1990’s. I suggest that liberal rather than democratic values held a particular attraction to South African political philosophers like me. Taking the example of Rawlsian liberalism, I show how liberalism locates the normative anchors of legitimacy outside the democratic process and is content with a weak interpretation of political equality. As an alternative I sketch a capacities approach to democratic legitimacy drawing on the work of Sen and Nussbaum. In particular I argue that the capacity to participate in democratic practices is what grounds and legitimizes principles of democratic justice agreed to by citizens. I conclude by suggesting that South Africa’s democracy would have been stronger if the state had attended to the capacities of citizens to participate in the democratic process.

Privacy and democracy

South African Journal of Philosophy, 2016

The meaning of privacy has been frequently disputed in the philosophical and legal literature sin... more The meaning of privacy has been frequently disputed in the philosophical and legal literature since Warren and Brandeis first argued for it as a distinct and important personal and social value. Nevertheless, while the meaning of privacy is held to be vague, there is general agreement that Warren and Brandeis were correct in their assessment of its value. Theorists of democracy, on the other hand, have been ambivalent towards the realm of the private. This paper interrogates the intersection between privacy and democracy, questioning the place of privacy as a distinctly democratic value.

Democracy and the Need for Normative Closure

International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2015

The paper is a response to Russell Daylight’s “In the Name of Democracy” (International Journal o... more The paper is a response to Russell Daylight’s “In the Name of Democracy” (International Journal of Applied Philosophy 29.1 [Spring 2015]). I argue that Daylight’s postmodernist approach to the question of democracy is flawed in several respects. First, he interprets the claim that the meaning of democracy is open to entail that there can be no closure when democratic norms are in dispute. I argue that normative closure is not only essential but also necessary to democratic practice, in particular for democratic legitimacy. I reject the claim that normative closure requires transcendental truths or dubious metaphysical commitments. Second, I critically examine Daylight’s positive proposal for “language-citizens.” I end by offering a sketch of a theory of democratic legitimacy that I believe evades the charges that Daylight and postmodernists offer against normative democratic theory.

Morality and agreement : a defense of moral contractarianism

Not quite dead yet: a liberal response to Van Heerden

South African Journal of Philosophy, 1998

In this article I challenge Derick van Heerden's prediction of ‘the demise of liberal politic... more

What Do Liberal Democratic States Owe the Victims of Disasters? A Rawlsian Account

Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2015

Is there a principled way to understand what liberal democratic states owe, as a matter of justic... more Is there a principled way to understand what liberal democratic states owe, as a matter of justice, to the victims (survivors) of disasters? This article shows what is normatively special and distinctive about disasters and argues for the view that there are substantial duties of justice for liberal democratic states. The article rejects both a libertarian and a utilitarian approach to this question and, based on broadly Rawlsian principles, argues for a ‘political definition’ of disasters that is concerned with the restoration of citizens' dignity and their capacities for effective citizenship.

COSMOPOLITAN JUSTICE: A SYMPOSIUM || Global Justice and the Challenge of Radical Pluralism

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The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon, 2014

Human Rights and Democracy

The 20th century has been described as the bloodiest in human history, but it was also the centur... more The 20th century has been described as the bloodiest in human history, but it was also the century in which people around the world embraced ideas of democracy and human rights as never before, constructing social, political and legal institutions seeking to contain human behaviour. Todd Landman offers an optimistic, yet cautionary tale of these developments, drawing on the literature, from politics, international relations and international law. He celebrates the global turn from tyranny and violence towards democracy and rights but also warns of the precariousness of these achievements in the face of democratic setbacks and the undermining of rights commitments by many countries during the so-called 'War on Terror'.

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Rawls's Difference Principle and a Problem of Sacrifice

Why Literature Cannot be Moral Philosophy

Freud on Justice: Supporting Illusions with Arguments

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John Rawls and the Common Good

What do animals deserve

L'A. defend la these selon laquelle l'exclusion des animaux du domaine moral dans le cadr... more L'A. defend la these selon laquelle l'exclusion des animaux du domaine moral dans le cadre de la theorie du contractarianisme ne remet pas en cause son statut theorique et moral. L'A. analyse la notion de statut moral et explique pourquoi elle ne peut etre attribuee aux etres non-humains de facon substantive

Labour , work and action

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Partial Contractarianism and Moral Motivation

The Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy

In this paper I argue that David Gauthier’s answer to the Why be moral? question fails. My argume... more In this paper I argue that David Gauthier’s answer to the Why be moral? question fails. My argument concedes the possibility of constrained maximization in all the senses Gauthier intends and does not rely on the claim that it is better to masquerade as a constrained maximizer than to be one. Instead, I argue that once a constrained maximizer in the guise of "economic man" is transformed through an affective commitment to morality into a constrained maximizer in the guise of the "liberal individual," then a purely rational justification for morality must become invisible to the latter. If I can show this, then I can show that rational justification can have no motivational power for the "liberal individual" and that Gauthier fails to answer the problem of moral motivation.