adamcarter's review against another edition
2.0
I was disappointed by this book. The upshot of it was something like Nussbaum's capabilities approach as the basis for human equality/dignity. However, Nussbaum's account is probably more illuminating not least because it is grounded in a nuanced account of vulnerability. Waldron acknowledges that some readers may think he has just given a messy account of equality with little insight, appealing to, for example, theological traditions and creating some (perhaps unnecessary) conceptual distinctions. I have little more to say other than this is exactly how I feel.
So disappointed by Waldron's account, if I had did not have any prior views on this topic, I would have thought Hobbes account of human equality was the most promising of the accounts outlined in the book. According to Waldron, Hobbes thought that our universal "fear of death at one another's hands", our equal propensity to be killed by one another, is what grounds human equality.
So disappointed by Waldron's account, if I had did not have any prior views on this topic, I would have thought Hobbes account of human equality was the most promising of the accounts outlined in the book. According to Waldron, Hobbes thought that our universal "fear of death at one another's hands", our equal propensity to be killed by one another, is what grounds human equality.
More...