Normative subjects : self and collectivity in morality and law

273 Pages·2016·1.77 MB·English

by  Dan-Cohen

Normative Subjects

Normative Subjects
Self and Collectivity in Morality and Law
MEIR DAN-C OHEN
1
1
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For Ishai and Talia

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments and Provenance ix
Introduction 1
Part I Construction and Revision
1. Constructing Subjects 11
2. Socializing Harry 46
3. Revising Our Pasts 55
4. Regret, Luck, and Identity 93
Part II Value and Humanity
5. Individuals, Citizens, Persons 117
6. Dignity and Self- Creation 138
7. A Morality of Crime and Punishment 165
Part III Collective Subjects
8. Collective Personhoods 183
9. Sanctioning Corporations 197
10. Freedoms of Collective Speech 209
Notes 233
Index 251

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PROVENANCE
This book consists of previously published essays, though the essays have
morphed a good deal in their transition to what now are the book’s ten
chapters. In revising the existing material, I have reduced redundancies
or at least indicated them by cross- references, have highlighted common
themes, and have added new material in the interest of increasing over-
all consistency and coherence. The resulting product is something of a
hybrid between a collection of essays and a “real” book. As a compromise,
the book does not fully realize the advantages of either of these formats,
but with luck it may offer some of the benefits of both. The book covers
a larger variety of subject matter and discusses a broader range of ideas
than a monograph would be able to accommodate, and it keeps the chap-
ters sufficiently freestanding so that they can be read selectively and out
of order. At the same time, there is, I hope, enough unity and continuity
to promise some added value to reading the entire book in sequence and
to make such an effort worthwhile.
The original essays have been written over a long period of time, and
during this time, the world, including its philosophical and legal aspects,
has not stood still. This creates some awkwardness in regard to the schol-
arship on which I draw, which especially in the older pieces is plainly not
up to date. I have tried to mitigate this deficiency by acknowledging some
salient recent developments and sources that bear directly on the argu-
ments. But since the revisions have taken anyway more time than I had