Date of Award
8-12-2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Christie Hartley
Second Advisor
Andrew J. Cohen
Third Advisor
Andrew I. Cohen
Fourth Advisor
William Edmundson
Abstract
On one understanding of ideal theory, the optimally just social world is specified at the outset to serve as the target for nonideal theory to strive to realize subject to the constraints of implementation imposed by a world of nonideal actors. In the spirit of recent work by Gerald Gaus and Keith Hankins, I argue that certain models of the path to the target prove inadequate because they are too simplistic. Figuring out both what the target is and how to get there is a much more difficult task than defenders of the target view suggest. Contra Gaus and Hankins, I believe the problem disagreement poses to ideal targets is uniquely epistemic.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/8662448
Recommended Citation
Carroll, Jeffrey, "The False Promise of Ideal Guidance on the Target View." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2016.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/8662448