The Importance of Assent: A Theory of Coercion and Dignity

161 Pages·2012·1.733 MB·English

by  Jan-Willem Van der Rijt (auth.)

THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSENT
LIBRARY OF ETHICS AND APPLIED PHILOSOPHY
VOLUME25
EditorinChief
MarcusDüwell,UtrechtUniversity,Utrecht,NL
EditorialBoard
DeryckBeyleveld,DurhamUniversity,Durham,U.K.
DavidCopp,UniversityofFlorida,USA
NancyFraser,NewSchoolforSocialResearch,NewYork,USA
MartinvanHees,GroningenUniversity,Netherlands
ThomasHill,UniversityofNorthCarolina,ChapelHill,USA
SamuelKerstein,UniversityofMaryland,CollegePark,USA
WillKymlicka,QueensUniversity,Ontario,Canada
PhilippeVanParijs,Louvaine-la-Neuve(Belgium)enHarvard,USA
QuiRenzong,ChineseAcademyofSocialSciences,China
PeterSchaber,Ethikzentrum,UniversityofZürich,Switzerland
ThomasSchmidt,HumboldtUniversity,Berlin,Germany
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/6230
THE IMPORTANCE
OF ASSENT
A Theory of Coercion and Dignity
by
JAN-WILLEMVANDERRIJT
UniversityofAmsterdam,DepartmentofPhilosophy,
Amsterdam,TheNetherlands
123
Jan-Willemvander Rijt
DepartmentofPhilosophy
UniversityofAmsterdam
Amsterdam
TheNetherlands
[email protected]
ISSN1387-6678
ISBN978-94-007-0765-8 e-ISBN978-94-007-0766-5
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-0766-5
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011928906
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Tomyparentsandgodparents
Acknowledgments
The research underlying this book formed part of the research programme
ModellingFreedom:FormalAnalysisandNormativePhilosophy,ledbyMartinvan
Hees and carried out at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Groningen.
Iwishtothankmycolleaguestherefortheirsupportandhelpfuladvice.Iamespe-
ciallybeholdentotheothermembersoftheaforementionedprogramme:Martinvan
Hees, Constanze Binder, Beth Huffer, Boudewijn de Bruin, Siegfried van Duffel,
FrankHindriksandMatthewBraham.SpecialthanksmustalsogotoJobZinkstok
and Anke Schuster. I am grateful to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research (NWO) for funding the research programme, and to the Department of
PhilosophyoftheUniversityofAmsterdamforgivingmethetimeandopportunity
topreparethemanuscriptforpublication.
Many of the arguments and analyses I propound in this volume were pre-
sented–sometimesinembryonicform–atavarietyofconferencesandworkshops
across Western and Central Europe, too numerous to mention individually here.
Nonetheless,Ibenefittedgreatlyfromthedebatesthatfollowedthesepresentations,
and I hereby express my gratitude to both the organisers and participants in these
venues.
I also benefitted greatly from the opportunity to spend two extended periods
at academic institutions abroad, namely the Central European University and The
UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill.Ithankboththestaffandstudentsofthe
PhilosophyDepartmentsoftheseuniversitiesforthewarmthwithwhichtheywel-
comedmeandthemanyexcellentcomments,tipsanddiscussionstheyprovided.In
this regard I especially wish to thank Thomas Hill,János Kis,Ferenc Huoranszki,
Gerald Postema, Geoffrey Brennan, Robin Hill and Kristen Bell. For allowing me
tousetheirfacilitiesinthesummerof2008IalsothankBabes¸-BolyaiUniversityin
Cluj-Napoca.
For helpful suggestions I am furthermore indebted to Ian Carter, Alon Harel,
Thomas Schmidt, Robert Heeger, Peter Schaber, Bert Musschenga, Bert van
Roermund, David Janssens, Anne Ruth Mackor, Govert den Hartogh, Marcus
Düwellandanumberofanonymousreferees.
Lastly, I wish to express my gratitude to the friends and family members on
whosepatienceandmoralsupportIreliedconsiderablywhenwritingthisbook.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
PartsofthetexthavebeendevelopedfrompaperspublishedinLawandPhilosophy
(‘RepublicanDignity:TheImportanceofTakingOffence’,2009,28:465–492)and
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (‘Coercive Interference and Moral Judgment’,
forthcoming).
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PartI Coercion
2 TheAnalysisofCoercion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 EvaluatingCoercionAccounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 ThePositionoftheCoerced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 TheRoleoftheCoercer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3 CoercionandMoralJudgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1 ADefinitionofCoercion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
PartII DignityandInterference
4 AKantianPerspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.2 ConsideringOneselfWronged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.3 MoralAgents,ChosenEnds,andWrongfulInterference . . . . . . 56
5 MoralObjectionsandtheCategoricalImperative . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.2 CoercionandDisagreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3 TheFormulaeofUniversalLawandEnd-in-Itself . . . . . . . . . 67
5.4 TheFormulaoftheCommonwealthofEnds . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
PartIII AKantianReconstructionofRepublicanism
6 Republicanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.2 RepublicanFreedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
ix
x Contents
7 Non-dominationandDignity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7.2 DignityandAvowedInterests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.3 Immunityvs.Impunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.4 ImplicationsI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7.5 ImplicationsII:RetributiveJustice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
8.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
8.2 DignityandSincerity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
AbbreviationstoKant’sWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153