Freedom and Fulfillment

by Feinberg, Joel

• ISBN13: 9780691074122
• ISBN10: 0691074127
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-08-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Dealing with a diverse set of problems in practical and theoretical ethics, these fourteen essays, three of them previously unpublished, reconfirm Joel Feinberg's leading position in the field of legal philosophy. With a clarity and humor that will be familiar to readers of his other works, Feinberg writes on topics including "wrongful life" suits in the law of torts, or whether there is any sense in the remark that a person is so badly off that he would be better off not existing at all; the morality of abortion; educational options; free expression; civil disobedience; and the duty of easy rescue in criminal law. He continues with a three-part defense of moral rights in the abstract, a discussion of voluntary euthanasia, and an inquiry into arguments of various kinds for not granting legal rights in enforcement of a person's acknowledged moral rights. This collection concludes with two essays dealing with concepts used in appraising the whole of a person's life: absurdity and self-fulfillment, and their interplay.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Wrongful Life and the Counterfactual Element in Harming (1986)	p. 3
Abortion (1979)	p. 37
The Child's Right to an Open Future (1980)	p. 76
Sentiment and Sentimentality in Practical Ethics (1982)	p. 98
Limits to the Free Expression of Opinion (1975)	p. 124
Civil Disobedience in the Modern World (1979)	p. 152
The Moral and Legal Responsibility of the Bad Samaritan (1984)	p. 175
In Defense of Moral Rights: Their Bare Existence (1990)	p. 197
In Defense of Moral Rights: Their Social Importance (1990)	p. 220
In Defense of Moral Rights: Their Constitutional Relevance (1990)	p. 245
An Unpromising Approach to the "Right to Die" (1991)	p. 260
Seven Modes of Reasoning That Can Justify Overlooking the Merits of the Individual Case--When the Facts Are Right (1991)	p. 283
Absurd Self-Fulfillment (1980)	p. 297
The Absurd and the Comic: Why Does Some Incongruity Please? (1989)	p. 331
Index	p. 347
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