Personal Responsibility: Why It Matters

by Alexander Brown, James Garvey (Editor), Jeremy Stangroom (Editor)

Overview

Personal responsibility is now very much on the political agenda. But what is personal responsibility? Why do we care about it? And what, if anything, should governments do to promote it?
This book explores the idea that individuals bear a special responsibility for the success or failure of their own lives looking at philosophical theories, political ideologies, and public opinion on the subject. Alexander Brown lends support to a recent move in political philosophy to deal with real world problems and shows how philosophy can contribute to public democratic debate on pressing issues of personal responsibility. Articulate, provocative, and stimulating, this timely book will make a significant contribution to one of the most important debates of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847063991
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/30/2009
Series:	Think Now
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Alexander Brown is a Teaching Fellow in Political Theory at the School of Public Policy, University College London, UK. He is the author of Ronald Dworkin's Theory of Equality (Forthcoming, Palgrave Macmillan).

James Garvey is Secretary of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, UK. He is the author of The Twenty Greatest Philosophy Books and The Ethics of Climate Change, also published by Continuum.

Jeremy Stangroom is the author of the international bestseller Einstein's Riddle and its sequels. His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Daily Telegraph, and elsewhere. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What is Personal Responsibility?
3. What Do Philosophers Think? Part I
4. What Do Philosophers Think? Part II
5. What Do Politicians Think?
6. What Do Ordinary People Think?
7. Five Contemporary Issues in Focus
8. So How Do We Decide?
9. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This important and timely book tackles one of the central issues in the relationship between the state and the individual: what is the proper scope of personal responsibility and how can it be supported through social arrangements? Responses to this question have widespread implications for welfare policy, criminal justice and healthcare and map one of the key fault lines in British politics. The book is essential reading for political philosophers, social policy specialists and anyone with an interest in the future of the welfare state.” —Tania Burchardt, London School of Economics, UK

“This is clear, comprehensive, original and engagingly written study of the role responsibility might play in our moral and political lives. Expertly drawing on sophisticated political philosophy, the analysis of the reality and rhetoric of politics and empirical survey research, Alexander Brown sets out a new 'right to personal responsibility' - that everyone should have the right to exercise responsibility for their lives - and considers how this might be implemented through the use of citizens' juries. Brown has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the idea of responsibility and its implications.” —Jonathan Wolff, University College London, UK

“Captivating and topical” —Sunday Business Post

“As the philosopher Alexander Brown shows ... the subject is more slippery than politicians imagine.” —London Review of Books

“Author piece, November 2009.” —Philosophy Now

“A nicely lucid and comprehensive treatment of personal responsibility as it appears in Western liberal democracies ... an interesting and engaging book.” —Times Higher Education

From the Publisher