Want a NOOK? Explore Now
Can libertarians care about social justice? In Free Market Fairness, John Tomasi argues that they can and should. Drawing simultaneously on moral insights from defenders of economic liberty such as F. A. Hayek and advocates of social justice such as John Rawls, Tomasi presents a new theory of liberal justice. This theory, free market fairness, is committed to both limited government and the material betterment of the poor. Unlike traditional libertarians, Tomasi argues that property rights are best defended not in terms of self-ownership or economic efficiency but as requirements of democratic legitimacy. At the same time, he encourages egalitarians concerned about social justice to listen more sympathetically to the claims ordinary citizens make about the importance of private economic liberty in their daily lives. In place of the familiar social democratic interpretations of social justice, Tomasi offers a "market democratic" conception of social justice: free market fairness. Tomasi argues that free market fairness, with its twin commitment to economic liberty and a fair distribution of goods and opportunities, is a morally superior account of liberal justice. Free market fairness is also a distinctively American ideal. It extends the notion, prominent in America's founding period, that protection of property and promotion of real opportunity are indivisible goals. Indeed, according to Tomasi, free market fairness is social justice, American style.
Provocative and vigorously argued, Free Market Fairness offers a bold new way of thinking about politics, economics, and justice--one that will challenge readers on both the left and right.
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Chapter 1: Classical Liberalism 1
Property and Equality 1
Market Society 6
America 11
Hayek 16
Classical Liberalism 22
Chapter 2: High Liberalism 27
Property or Equality 27
The Decline of Economic Liberty 32
Rawls 37
The Libertarian Moment 46
Liberalismus Sapiens Sapiens 51
Chapter 3: Thinking the Unthinkable 57
The Great Fact: Economic Growth 57
Populism, Probability, and Political Philosophy 60
Economic Liberty and Democratic Legitimacy 68
Endings, and Beginnings, Too 84
Chapter 4: Market Democracy 87
The Conceptual Space 87
Breaking Ice 99
Market Democracy as a Research Program 103
Institutions 106
The Challenges to Market Democracy 118
Chapter 5: Social Justicitis 123
The Distributional Adequacy Condition 123
Hit Parade: Property and the Poor 127
Hayek's Critique 142
Benadryl for Free-Marketeers
151
Chapter 6: Two Concepts of Fairness 162
Warming up to Market Democracy 162
Applying the Theory 172
The Argument Ipse Dixit 177
Justice as Fairness: Status or Agency? 180
Chapter 7: Feasibility, Normativity, and Institutional Guarantees 197
The Twilight of Left Liberalism? 197
Realistic Utopianism 203
Aims and Guarantees 215
Chapter 8: Free Market Fairness 226
The Difference Principle 226
Fair Equality of Opportunity 237
Political Liberty 247
Generational, Environmental, and International Justice 254
Free Market Fairness as a Moral Ideal 264
Conclusion 267
Notes 273
Bibliography 315
Index 333
Overview
Can libertarians care about social justice? In Free Market Fairness, John Tomasi argues that they can and should. Drawing simultaneously on moral insights from defenders of economic liberty such as F. A. Hayek and advocates of social justice such as John Rawls, Tomasi presents a new theory of liberal justice. This theory, free market fairness, is committed to both limited government and the material betterment of the poor. Unlike traditional libertarians, Tomasi argues that property rights are best defended not ...