When the noted political philosopher Iris Marion
Young died in 2006, her death was mourned as the passing
of "one of the most important political philosophers of
the past quarter-century" (Cass Sunstein) and as an
important and innovative thinker working at the
conjunction of a number of important topics: global
justice; democracy and difference; continental political
theory; ethics and international affairs; and gender,
race and public policy. In her long-awaited
RESPONSIBILITY FOR JUSTICE, Young discusses our
responsibilities to address "structural" injustices in
which we among many are implicated (but for which we not
to blame), often by virtue of participating in a market,
such as buying goods produced in sweatshops, or
participating in booming housing markets that leave many
homeless. Young argues that addressing these structural
injustices requires a new model of responsibility, which
she calls the "social connection" model.She develops
this idea by clarifying the nature of structural
injustice; developing the notion of political
responsibility for injustice and how it differs from
older ideas of blame and guilt; and finally how we can
then use this model to describe our responsibilities to
others no matter who we are and where we live. With a
foreword by Martha C. Nussbaum, this last statement by a
revered and highly influential thinker will be of great
interest to political theorists and philosophers,
ethicists, and feminist and political philosophers.
'Iris Marion Young's death in 2006 was a tragic loss for
the field of political theory, and this manuscript is
evidence of how much she had yet to contribute. Like all
her work, it addresses issues of enormous philosophical
and political importance, and does so in a way that is
original and insightful. It integrates a rich array of
examples, concepts, theories and resources, from
empirical social science to continental philosophy, and
does so in a way that is seamless and effortless...it's
an important manuscript and a fitting testament to
Young's career."- Will Kymlicka, Philosophy, Queens
University '[The book] is both very distinctively the
work of Iris Marion Young in its topic, style of
argument and presentation, but it also makes a number of
important contributions to contemporary political
philosophy, through trying to work out a 'social
connection' theory of responsibility. It is particularly
impressive in the open way it draws on sources - equally
at home discussing Derrida, Sartre and Levinas, as
contemporary analytic philosophers such as G.A. Cohen,
Alan Buchanan and Robert Goodin.' Jonathan Wolff,
Philosophy, University College London |
|