JUSTICE IN A NON-IDEAL WORLD Submitted by Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh For the Degree of Ph ...

279 Pages·2017·2.25 MB·English

JUSTICE IN A NON-IDEAL WORLD

Submitted by

Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh

For the Degree of Ph.D.

Department of Philosophy
University College London

‘I, Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own.
Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been
indicated in the thesis.'
Sections of Chapter 2 and Chapter 6 appeared at the following place:
(2016) “Justice in a Non-Ideal World: The Case of Climate Change”, Critical
Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.
Sections of Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 appeared at the following place:
(2016) “A Case of Non-Ideal Guidance: Assessing Tax Competition”, Moral
Philosophy and Politics.
This thesis has improved on these articles.
3

Para minha mãe. Que amo até acabar todas as casas.
5

« Je veux chercher si, dans l'ordre civil, il peut y avoir quelque règle d'administration
légitime et sûre, en prenant les hommes tels qu'ils sont, et les lois telles qu'elles peuvent
être. Je tâcherai d'allier toujours, dans cette recherche, ce que le droit permet avec ce que
l'intérêt prescrit, afin que la justice et l'utilité ne se trouvent point divisées. »
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du Contrat Social, 1762
7

Abstract

This doctoral thesis, titled Justice in a Non-Ideal World, explores the methodology
and the content of a non-ideal theory of justice. It puts forward a methodology for
theorising about politics according to which ideal theory does not have analytical
primacy over non-ideal theory. Non-ideal theory is not a matter of implementing ideal
principles, but rather a field of inquiry that seeks balance between moral values and real
world considerations that constrain the realisation of justice. I argue that although there
is value in ideal theorising, the specific task of guiding political action is better carried by
non-ideal theory. This thesis highlighted the contribution of a non-ideal approach to our
theorising about politics and explored the action guiding potential of non-ideal theory
by identifying its defining features. This contribution is exemplified in the contexts of
tax competition, climate justice and carbon pricing.
This thesis explores ways through which the non-ideal theorist contributes to the
normative weightlifting of political philosophy by gathering knowledge from other
disciplines (in particular social sciences, economics, climate sciences) without
presupposing ideal theory. I argue that non-ideal theorising provides not only non-
normative supplementations to political theory, in terms of elements that counted as
empirical and social scientific input, but also some of its core normative components.
The problem this thesis sets out to fix is centrally a problem with the normative
incompleteness of ideal theory. I found that non-ideal theory provides valuable insights
to formulate an action guiding political theory – especially with regard to compliance,
feasibility, fact-sensitivity and path dependence – in order to address issues such as tax
competition, climate justice and carbon pricing, which require the collaboration of
researchers across a range of disciplines.
9