Idealizing the Government: Political Philosophy for the Real World (with Chris Freiman)

Chris Freiman joins us today to argue that the liberal egalitarian rejection of free market regimes rests on a crucial methodological mistake. Liberal egalitarians regularly assume an ideal “public interest” model of political behavior and a nonideal “private interest” model of behavior in the market and civil society.

Why do we need the state? What is the free rider problem? What is ideal theory? How did Rawls mix ideal and non-ideal theory when analyzing institutions? What kind of state would we have in a perfectly just world? What kinds of institutional designs is Rawls aiming at? How is voting an expressive behavior?

Further Reading:

Unequivocal Justice (Political Philosophy for the Real World), written by Christopher Freiman

Rawls, Ideal Theory, and the Public Goods Argument for the State, written by Christopher Freiman

A Theory of Justice, Post-Trump Edition, written by Christopher Freiman

Related Content:

A (Revised) Theory of Justice, written by Brian Kogelmann

The Federalist No. 10, written by James Madison

The Virtue of Justice, Free Thoughts Podcast

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