The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse Society

315 Pages·2016·2.61 MB·English

by  Gerald Gaus

The Tyranny of the Ideal

The Tyranny of the Ideal
Justice in a Diverse society
Gerald Gaus
P r i n c e to n u n i v e r s i t y P r e s s
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2016 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978- 0- 691- 15880- 8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016930321
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Linux Libertine
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my graduate students, with thanks for
all they have taught me

For those who have eaten from the tree
of knowledge, paradise is lost.
— Karl PoPPer, The Open Society and Its Enemies

Summary of Contents
Preface xv
chaPter i
The Allure of the Ideal: Orienting the Quest for Justice 1
chaPter ii
The Elusive Ideal: Searching under a Single Perspective 42
chaPter iii
The Fractured Ideal: Searching with Diverse Perspectives 105
chaPter iv
The Nonideal: The Open Society 150
chaPter v
Advancing from the Citadel 241
Appendixes 251
Works Cited 265
Index 279