Richard J. Arneson is an
American philosopher
This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States.
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specializing in
political philosophy
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...
who has taught at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
since 1973. He chaired the department during 1992–1996 and served as graduate adviser. In 1996, he also served as visiting professor in the ethics, politics, and economics program at Yale University. Arneson earned his PhD in philosophy from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, in 1975. His work has largely focused on
utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...
and on
luck egalitarianism. He is also a proponent of
prioritarianism.
Arneson has also critiqued
Marxism
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
, arguing that capitalism was exploitative for more complex reasons than the
labour theory of value
The labor theory of value (LTV) is a theory of value that argues that the economic value of a good or service is determined by the total amount of " socially necessary labor" required to produce it.
The LTV is usually associated with Marxian ...
accounted for. He argued that surplus transfer was only wrong when it was the result of an unequal distribution of social goods. Therefore, under capitalism, the majority of exchanges are inherently exploitative because the benefits end up in the hands of those who do not need it. Nonetheless, he says, surplus transfer is legitimate when it arises independently or when it is used to compensate the unequal distribution of natural endowments and wealth. Arneson has also contributed to debates concerning obligations from involuntary benefits, arguing that in some instances the "voluntary acceptance" condition ought to be relaxed.
See also
*
American philosophy
*
List of American philosophers
This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States.
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References
External links
Faculty page
Living people
Moral philosophers
Philosophers from California
Philosophers from Connecticut
University of California, San Diego faculty
Yale University faculty
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
Political philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
Year of birth missing (living people)
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