The Basic Minimum A Welfarist Approach [Paperback]

Offers a sustained defense of the claim that the basic social minimum should be characterized in terms of human welfare.Dorsey proposes a welfarist approach to the question of the basic social minimum. His book will be fundamental for all who are interested in theories of political morality.Dorsey proposes a welfarist approach to the question of the basic social minimum. His book will be fundamental for all who are interested in theories of political morality.A common presupposition in contemporary moral and political philosophy is that individuals should be provided with some basic threshold of goods, capabilities, or well-being. But if there is such a basic minimum, how should this be understood? Dale Dorsey offers an underexplored answer: that the basic minimum should be characterized not as the achievement of a set of capabilities, or as access to some specified bundle of resources, but as the maintenance of a minimal threshold of human welfare. In addition, Dorsey argues that though political institutions should be committed to the promotion of this minimal threshold, we should reject approaches that seek to cast the basic minimum as a human right. His book will be important for all who are interested in theories of political morality.Preface; Introduction and limits; 1. On the concept (and some conceptions) of the basic minimum; 2. A welfarist basic minimum; 3. Adaptive preferences; 4. The intrinsic value of the basic minimum; 5. Against rights; 6. On objections to welfarism; Bibliography. ...Dorsey's work is important because it tries to give form to some of our most basic moral intuitions. His arguments offer excellent starting points for further discussion.... Dorsey should be commended for wading into difficult and complex philosophical territory...
--Krista Thomason, Swarthmore College, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews