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The feasibility issue

southwood, nicholas

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It is commonly taken for granted that questions of feasibility are highly relevant to our normative thinking—and perhaps especially our normative thinking about politics. But what exactly does this preoccupation with feasibility amount to, and in what forms if any is it warranted? This article aims to provide an opinionated introduction to, and clearer characterisation of, the feasibility issue. I begin by discussing the question of how feasibility is to be understood. I then turn to the...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorsouthwood, nicholas
dc.date.accessioned2019-04-01T01:22:34Z
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/158119
dc.description.abstractIt is commonly taken for granted that questions of feasibility are highly relevant to our normative thinking—and perhaps especially our normative thinking about politics. But what exactly does this preoccupation with feasibility amount to, and in what forms if any is it warranted? This article aims to provide an opinionated introduction to, and clearer characterisation of, the feasibility issue. I begin by discussing the question of how feasibility is to be understood. I then turn to the question of feasibility's role, suggesting that there are two quite different kinds of role questions that may be at play, though they are often run together: a question about feasibility's normative significance; and a question about its proper use in informing our normative thinking. Finally, I consider how the feasibility issue differs from certain other related issues: the demandingness issue; the issue of whether “ought” implies “can”; and the “ideal versus non-ideal theory” issue.
dc.description.sponsorshipResearch for the article was supported by an Australian Research Council‐funded Future Fellowship (FT160100409).
dc.format.extent13 pages
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.language.isoen_AU
dc.publisherWiley-Blackwell
dc.rights© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
dc.sourcePhilosophy Compass
dc.subjectfeasibility
dc.subjectissue
dc.subjectdemandingness
dc.titleThe feasibility issue
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume13
dc.date.issued2018-05-29
local.identifier.absfor220319 - Social Philosophy
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB10542
local.publisher.urlhttps://www.wiley.com/en-gb
local.type.statusAccepted Version
local.contributor.affiliationSouthwood, Nicholas, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University
dc.relationhttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT160100409
local.identifier.essn1747-9991
local.bibliographicCitation.issue8
local.bibliographicCitation.startpagee12509
local.identifier.doi10.1111/phc3.12509
local.identifier.absseo970122 - Expanding Knowledge in Philosophy and Religious Studies
dc.date.updated2019-03-12T07:19:54Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-85047666392
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dc.provenancehttp://sherpa.mimas.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1747-9991/ Author can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing). Author can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) with 2 years embargo (Sherpa/Romeo as of 1/4/2019)
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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