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Kant on Welfare: Five Unsuccessful Defences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2020

Luke J. Davies
Luke J. Davies*
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
*
Email: luke.james.davies@gmail.com
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Abstract

This article discusses five attempts at justifying the provision of welfare on Kantian grounds. I argue that none of the five proposals is satisfactory. Each faces a serious challenge on textual or systematic grounds. The conclusion to draw from this is not that a Kantian cannot defend the provision of welfare. Rather, the conclusion to draw is that the task of defending the provision of welfare on Kantian grounds is a difficult one whose success we should not take for granted.

Keywords

Kantwelfarerightsleft-libertarianism

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Kantian Review , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 1 - 25
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© Kantian Review, 2020

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