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Freedom To And Freedom From: A Response To Garvey And Armacost With A Tinge Of Legal Perfectionism, Steve Sheppard
Freedom To And Freedom From: A Response To Garvey And Armacost With A Tinge Of Legal Perfectionism, Steve Sheppard
Steve Sheppard
In his article Control Freaks, 47 Drake L. Rev. 1 (1998), Professor John Garvey offers a controversial explanation of how freedom works and why it is good, which is something the traditional American narrative of freedom assumes without attempting a further justification. Professor Garvey’s theory of freedom depends on freedom’s instrumental quality. Freedom is the mechanism that protects a citizen’s abilities to lead a good life and to act for moral purposes. Professor Garvey asserts that lawmakers must first evaluate the morality of an act before they decide whether it deserves protection. When an act does not serve a moral …
The Perfectionisms Of John Rawls, Steve Sheppard
The Perfectionisms Of John Rawls, Steve Sheppard
Steve Sheppard
John Rawls’s strict theory of perfectionism would have more appeal if it were reconstructed by balancing it with moderate cultural perfectionism. In his work, A Theory of Justice, John Rawls framed the modern idea of legal perfectionism. In his thought experiment, Rawls gave different players various theories of justice that contrast with his “original position,” in which principles of justice are decided from behind a veil of ignorance. The first of the theories, strict perfectionism, argued society should be structured in a way that produces the utmost levels of excellence in someone, but not everyone. The second theory, moderate perfectionism, …