This thesis looks at the compatibility of statism with principles of distribution of climate change costs. Two strands of statism are analysed, communitarianism and institutionalism, in relation to...Show moreThis thesis looks at the compatibility of statism with principles of distribution of climate change costs. Two strands of statism are analysed, communitarianism and institutionalism, in relation to three principles of distribution of costs, the Polluter Pays Principle (PP), the Beneficiary Pays Principle (BP) and the Ability to Pay Principle (AP). This thesis focusses on statism because its applicability to climate change is understudied in the climate justice literature. The main argument is that statism is only partially compatible with some of the principles of distribution of costs. Institutionalists are only partially compatible with the PP and the AP but not with the BP. Communitarianism on the other hand, is applicable to all three principles but always to a limited extent.Show less
Ian Carter identifies a philosophical dispute about whether either all political concepts necessarily express ethical evaluation, or some can be ethically detached. Establishing the truth of the...Show moreIan Carter identifies a philosophical dispute about whether either all political concepts necessarily express ethical evaluation, or some can be ethically detached. Establishing the truth of the latter is especially interesting, since ethically loaded accounts often generate confusions and misunderstandings within moral and political discourse. Carter suggests that it is possible to provide largely ethically detached accounts of certain political concepts, especially freedom, namely in being to a certain extent value-free or value-neutral. I scrutinize his proposal through examining three examples of partly ethically detached concepts of freedom, and ask whether such concepts are indeed possible and useful for both normative and conceptual theorizing. I conclude that overall, beside some remarks, Carter’s theory makes sense and provides an original and useful insight in the nature of ethical theories and their concepts, especially concepts of freedom.Show less
This thesis explores the conceptualization of selfhood, self-interest, and self-sacrifice in ancient Chinese thought by performing an intra-textual analysis of several anecdotes in the Han Feizi, a...Show moreThis thesis explores the conceptualization of selfhood, self-interest, and self-sacrifice in ancient Chinese thought by performing an intra-textual analysis of several anecdotes in the Han Feizi, a canonical text on ancient Chinese political philosophy dating back to the 3rd century BCE. More specifically, this thesis describes a paradox in early Chinese thought, particularly in the Han Feizi, about conceptions of self-hood as articulated in anecdotes involving self-interest and self-sacrifice. A close reading of relevant passages demonstrates that, according to the Han Feizi, the contradictory tension between self-interest and self-sacrifice that instigated the premise for this study is in fact not so paradoxical after all. According to the Han Feizi, individuals are motivated by their self-interested nature, even when they sacrifice their limbs, their children, or their lives in the pursuit of personal aggrandizement.Show less
The growing cost of the health care systems in Western countries and the need for reform of those systems has once again sparked a political debate about how to distribute health fairly. The...Show moreThe growing cost of the health care systems in Western countries and the need for reform of those systems has once again sparked a political debate about how to distribute health fairly. The current trend is to put more emphasis on personal responsibility when it comes to the subject of health. This thesis examines different normative theories on how to distribute health fairly. The question is raised of whether there should be put more emphasis on the personal responsibility people have for their health in a fair distribution of health. The conclusion of this thesis is that personal responsibility should not play a role when it comes to a just distribution of health. The punishment for making a wrong decision is too high when making personal responsibility the main criterion for the distribution of health.Show less
