Review of Distributive Justice: A Constructive Critique of the Utilitarian Theory of Distribution by Nicholas Rescher
Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
4-1969
ISSN
1558-1470
Publisher
Duke University Press
Language
en-US
Abstract
The motto of this book is drawn from Cicero, who argues that "nothing is genuinely utile that is not at the same time just, and nothing just that is not at the same time utile." This, with the subtitle, may be misleading. For Professor Rescher does not defend the utilitarian treatment of justice; he sharply restates the objections and rejects it. On the constructive side, he offers the outlines of a commonsensical theory of distributive justice. Rescher's idea of such a theory is that of a principle for evaluating patterns of distribution of goods (and evils, though these are largely ignored), a criterion that determines not merely "ideal" patterns but also the relative merits of "suboptimal alternatives." His method is, generally, to appeal to our moral intuitions; abstractly drawn cases are used to test the acceptability of principles.
Recommended Citation
David B. Lyons,
Review of Distributive Justice: A Constructive Critique of the Utilitarian Theory of Distribution by Nicholas Rescher
,
in
78
The Philosophical Review
265
(1969).
Available at:
https://doi.org/10.2307/2184188
