Review Symposium: Amartya Sen's Idea of Justice: Are Transcendental Theories of Justice Redundant?

摘要

Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice is a very rich book, with many aspects worth discussing. I will limit myself here to one major claim that Sen makes, namely that transcendental theories of justice are redundant. I will argue that this ‘Redundancy Claim’ is mistaken, since for justice-enhancing actions we need both transcendental and non-transcendental theorising of justice. Nevertheless, I endorse an implication of the Redundancy Claim, namely that theorists of justice should shift their priorities from transcendental theorising towards thinking about justice-enhancing change. I will argue that this ‘Priorities Claim’ not only follows from the (mistaken) Redundancy Claim but also from another argument which Sen advances about the current practice of philosophers of justice. I will conclude that the Redundancy Claim has to be rejected, but this is not a big loss, since what is really important is the Priorities Claim, which is vindicated.