Law Commons^™

The Moral Significance Of Social Roles, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

Outside of specialized contexts, moral philosophy lacks an appreciation of the ethical commitments embedded within social roles such as that of "friend" and "spouse." The costs of this blindspot become especially high when considering certain problems that depend upon commonsense intuitions to discern what is or is not the "right" outcome. The problem of partiality--viewing one's relationships and projects as having intrinsic worth in themselves, rather than as a means to some other end, such as can be the case in some forms of utilitarianism--is one such example.

The present paper shows how unpacking the moral entailments of the roles …

Rights As Fairness, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

Edmundson characterizes the historical emergence of the idea of human rights out of the conceptual divergence between objective and subjective right, which he places in the Middle Ages. Objective right recognizes the justice of a given state of affairs. “Suppose I take St. Francis’ sandals without his permission. ‘Thou shalt not steal’—I have violated objective right, I have transgressed God’s commandment. But where does St. Francis come into the picture? We want to add, ‘St. Francis has a right to his sandals’” (Edmundson 2004, p. 9). He considers the appearance of this psychological foregrounding of the right-holder as a necessary …

A Primary Human Challenge, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

We may ask why, at both the individual and collective levels, it has seemed so difficult for us to choose to evolve our human games with Joy. There is no one answer for such a question, for each of us has the gift of free will. I will suggest, however, that built into our human games is what I call a primary human challenge. That primary human challenge is a dynamic tension, flowing from our creative urge for the freedom “to be” who we really are in our current physical form, and simultaneously to embrace our responsibility for our Being-ness.

Ownership, Limited: Reconciling Traditional And Progressive Corporate Law Via An Aristotelian Understanding Of Ownership, Ronald J. Colombo

Ronald J Colombo

Concern over issues of corporate social responsibility and corporate governance persists, fueled, in large part, by recent (and ongoing) corporate scandals of one sort or another. The debate over the nature of the corporation – and, consequently, the proper role of directors, shareholders, and other stakeholders – plays an important role in the consideration of such concerns. If one conceptualizes the corporation as an entity owned by the shareholders, then one would probably be more likely to view directors as mere agents, tasked with maximizing the wealth of their principals (the shareholders). On the other hand, rejecting such a conceptualization …