Drugs and the Limits of Liberalism

Drugs and the Limits of Liberalism
Author: Pablo De Greiff
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-10-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1501721216

Society's drug problem will persist, and debates over how to solve it will continue, getting nowhere, until we define our terms. This book is an effort to do just that—to parse the legal, moral, and philosophical underpinnings for any discussion of drug policy. Does liberal political theory, with its commitment to individual freedom, offer any guidance in the matter of drugs, particularly regarding their legal status? Do the commitments that citizens of liberal democracies make—commitments to ideals such as rationality, equality, justice, and democratic forms of decision-making—have implications for drug policy? These are the questions addressed in this volume, which explores the possibilities and limitations of philosophical reflection on this pressing, practical social issue.The authors, distinguished political and legal philosophers, search out the justification of policies that manage problems of drug consumption and social disintegration, but do so in keeping with the moral and political commitments of a liberal democratic society. Their subjects range from the rationality or irrationality of drug consumption to the scope of liberty; from the proper aims of legislation to the rhetoric of the war on drugs, particularly as deployed by former "Drug Czar" William Bennett.

Why Privacy Isn't Everything

Why Privacy Isn't Everything
Author: Anita L. Allen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2003
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780742514096

Accountability protects public health and safety, facilitates law enforcement, and enhances national security, but it is much more than a bureaucratic concern for corporations, public administrators, and the criminal justice system. In Why Privacy Isn't Everything, Anita L. Allen provides a highly original treatment of neglected issues affecting the intimacies of everyday life, and freshly examines how a preeminent liberal society accommodates the competing demands of vital privacy and vital accountability for personal matters. Thus, 'None of your business ' is at times the wrong thing to say, as much of what appears to be self-regarding conduct has implications for others that should have some bearing on how a person chooses to act. The book addresses such questions as, What does it mean to be accountable for conduct? For what personal matters am I accountable, and to whom? Allen concludes that the sticky webs of accountability that encase ordinary life are flexible enough to accommodate egalitarian moral, legal and social practices that are highly consistent with contemporary feminist reconstructions of liberalism.

Neuroethics, Justice and Autonomy: Public Reason in the Cognitive Enhancement Debate

Neuroethics, Justice and Autonomy: Public Reason in the Cognitive Enhancement Debate
Author: Veljko Dubljević
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2019-04-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030136434

This book explicitly addresses policy options in a democratic society regarding cognitive enhancement drugs and devices. The book offers an in-depth case by case analysis of existing and emerging cognitive neuroenhancement technologies and canvasses a distinct political neuroethics approach. The author provides an argument on the much debated issue of fairness of cognitive enhancement practices and tackles the tricky issue of how to respect preferences of citizens opposing and those preferring enhancement. The author persuasively argues the necessity of a laws and regulations regarding the use of cognitive enhancers. He also argues that the funds for those who seek cognitive enhancement should be allocated free of charge to the least advantaged. The work argues that the notion of autonomy has been mistakenly associated with the metaphysical concept of free will, and offers a political definition of autonomy to clarify how responsibility is implicitly grounded in the legal and political system. As such, this book is an essential read for everyone interested in neuroethics, and a valuable resource for policy makers, as well as scholars and students in philosophy, law, psychiatry and neuroscience.

Liberalism Versus Conservatism

Liberalism Versus Conservatism
Author: François B. Gérard
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2000
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781560728122

Everyone eschews labels yet we all seem to posses them in the minds of legions of politicians, marketers and even the ever-peering government. We are being targeted daily by flaming liberals, left-wing liberals, right-wing conservatives, compassionate conservatives, religious conservatives and liberals, pinko liberals, middle-of-the-road liberals conservatives and liberals, pinko liberals, middle-of-the-road liberals and conservatives and of course by neoconservatives and neoliberals. The search is on for kindred souls -- the types who will open their wallets to support whatever it is the hucksters are peddling. But what to these concepts mean and do their torchbearers grasp the underlying philosophies or do they care? This bibliography lists over hundreds of entries under each category which are then indexed by title an author.

Tolerance : Experiments with Freedom in the Netherlands

Tolerance : Experiments with Freedom in the Netherlands
Author: Cees Maris
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2018-08-27
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3319893467

This book presents a collection of philosophical essays on freedom and tolerance in the Netherlands. It explores liberal freedom and its limits in areas such as freedom of speech, public reason, sexual morality, euthanasia, drugs policy, and minority rights. The book takes Dutch practices as exemplary test cases for the principled discussions on these subjects from the perspective of political liberalism. Indeed, the Netherlands may be viewed as a social laboratory in human tolerance. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, Holland took the lead in a global emancipation process towards a society based on equal freedom. It was the first country to legalize euthanasia, soft drugs and gay marriage. In the final sections, the book examines the question of whether the political murders on the politician Pim Fortuyn and the film director Theo van Gogh, the reactions to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s film Submission, as well as the success of the populist politician Geert Wilders are signs of the end of Dutch tolerance. Although it recognizes that the political climate has taken a conservative turn, the book shows that the Netherlands still shows remarkable tolerance.

The Constitution of the War on Drugs

The Constitution of the War on Drugs
Author: David Pozen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2024-04-23
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0197685455

In The Constitution of the War on Drugs, David Pozen provides an authoritative, critical constitutional history of the drug war, casting new light on both drug prohibition and U.S. constitutional development. Pozen shows the plausibility of a constitutional path not taken in the 1960s and 1970s--a path that would have led to a less punitive approach to drug control. He explains how and why constitutional resistance to drug prohibition collapsed. And he offers a roadmap to constitutional reform options available today.

A Moral Defense of Recreational Drug Use

A Moral Defense of Recreational Drug Use
Author: Rob Lovering
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2015-08-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1137528680

Why does American law allow the recreational use of some drugs, such as alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, but not others, such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin? The answer lies not simply in the harm the use of these drugs might cause, but in the perceived morality—or lack thereof—of their recreational use. Despite strong rhetoric from moral critics of recreational drug use, however, it is surprisingly difficult to discern the reasons they have for deeming the recreational use of (some) drugs morally wrong. In this book, Rob Lovering lays out and dissects various arguments for the immorality of using marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs recreationally. He contends that, by and large, these arguments do not succeed. Lovering’s book represents one of the first works to systematically present, analyze, and critique arguments for the moral wrongness of recreational drug use. Given this, as well as the popularity of the morality-based defense of the United States’ drug laws, this book is an important and timely contribution to the debate on the recreational use of drugs.

Pharmaceutical Freedom

Pharmaceutical Freedom
Author: Jessica Flanigan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0190684542

Jessica Flanigan defends patients' rights of self-medication on the grounds that same moral reasons against medical paternalism in clinical contexts are also reasons against paternalistic pharmaceutical policies, including prohibitive approval processes and prescription requirements.

Moral and Political Philosophy

Moral and Political Philosophy
Author: Paul Smith
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2008-04-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0230593941

A clear and concise introduction to moral and political philosophy which critically analyses arguments about controversial and topical practical issues – drug laws, justifications of punishment, civil disobedience, whether there is a duty to obey the law, and global poverty.