"On Widening the Moral Sphere"
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Authors
Sanjay Lal
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Journal Article, Academic Journal
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Abstract
Considerations of justice and rights are assumed to present problems for the idea that we should do, that which we take to be, supererogatory. I argue that careful consideration of how we think of justice and rights lead to the conclusion that actions currently thought of as supererogatory are actually better grouped with the class of acts we identify as moral requirements. I argue since our common understanding of justice is incompatible with free-riding and that we implicitly assume that we possess the right to benefit from that which, we agree, is made possible from the willingness of others to go beyond our perceived moral requirements, we should re-think where we draw the line demarcating the required from the saintly.