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Justice as a secondary moral ideal: the British idealists and the personal ethics perspective in understanding social justice

Dimova-Cookson, Maria

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Abstract

This paper aims to show the advantages of the personal ethics perspective employed by the British idealist in the analysis of justice. In the context of Green’s and Bosanquet’s political theory, justice is a secondary moral ideal. Yet, it is argued here, their moral philosophy leads us, through a longer path, to the philosophical grounds we already occupy today: those of thinking about human rights as fundamental, not derivative, i.e. thinking about justice as a primary, not secondary moral ideal. There are three related yet distinct philosophical claims here. First, the British idealists saw clearly the stand off between justice and virtue. Secondly, the personal ethics of Green and Bosanquet, with some reconstruction offered here, outlines the way in which this stand off can be resolved without undermining its significance. Thirdly, the personal ethics perspective is beneficial for resolving some of the difficulties surrounding the institutional approach of implementing of social justice.

Citation

Dimova-Cookson, M. (2011). Justice as a secondary moral ideal: the British idealists and the personal ethics perspective in understanding social justice. European Journal of Political Theory, 10(1), 46-70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474885110386005

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2011
Deposit Date Jul 23, 2012
Publicly Available Date Nov 16, 2012
Journal European Journal of Political Theory
Print ISSN 1474-8851
Electronic ISSN 1741-2730
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 10
Issue 1
Pages 46-70
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1474885110386005
Keywords Bosanquet, Justice, Moral action, Recognition, Rights, T. H. Green.

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Copyright Statement
The final definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal European journal of political theory 10/1, 2011 © SAGE Publications Ltd by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Journal European journal of political theory page: http://ept.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/





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