Jason Brennan – Get a Job and Pay More Taxes: What Utopophiles Must Say to the Western Poor
“Get a Job and Pay More Taxes: What Utopophiles Must Say to the Western Poor”
Many philosophers argue that we should not dumb down the requirements of ethics or justice to accommodate people’s motivational failings. The fact that certain people predictably will not do the right thing does not imply they are unable to do so, or that they are not obligated to do so. This kind of argument is usually employed to defend left-wing ideas. For instance, G. A. Cohen argues that the reason socialism fails in the real world isn’t that socialism is bad, but that people are bad. I argue that “utopophiles” like Cohen must, on pain on inconsistency, also endorse certain “conservative” conclusions, such as that most poor adults in the developed West are obligated to act more prudently, get jobs, become net taxpayers, avoid having children they cannot afford, and act to avoid needing welfare or assistance.
About Jason Brennan:
Jason Brennan is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He is the author of sixteen books, which have been translated twenty-nine times, including Why Not Capitalism?, Markets without Limits, and Democracy: A Guided Tour. He is the editor of Public Affairs Quarterly.
Reception begins at 5 PM and presentation begins at 6 PM.
“Get a Job and Pay More Taxes: What Utopophiles Must Say to the Western Poor”
Many philosophers argue that we should not dumb down the requirements of ethics or justice to accommodate people’s motivational failings. The fact that certain people predictably will not do the right thing does not imply they are unable to do so, or that they are not obligated to do so. This kind of argument is usually employed to defend left-wing ideas. For instance, G. A. Cohen argues that the reason socialism fails in the real world isn’t that socialism is bad, but that people are bad. I argue that “utopophiles” like Cohen must, on pain on inconsistency, also endorse certain “conservative” conclusions, such as that most poor adults in the developed West are obligated to act more prudently, get jobs, become net taxpayers, avoid having children they cannot afford, and act to avoid needing welfare or assistance.
About Jason Brennan:
Jason Brennan is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He is the author of sixteen books, which have been translated twenty-nine times, including Why Not Capitalism?, Markets without Limits, and Democracy: A Guided Tour. He is the editor of Public Affairs Quarterly.
Reception begins at 5 PM and presentation begins at 6 PM.