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Single Idea 20530

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 1. Ideology ]

Full Idea

Political choices can be made by the utility principles (maximising total utility), or maximin (maximising for the worst off, a view for pessimists), or maximax (not serious, but one for optimists, being unequal, and aiming for a high maximum).

Gist of Idea

Political choice can be by utility, or maximin, or maximax

Source

Jonathan Wolff (An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) [2006], 5 'Choosing')

Book Ref

Wolff,Jonathan: 'An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev)' [OUP 2006], p.162


A Reaction

[my summary of a page of Wolff] Rawls embodies the maximin view. Wolff implies that we must choose between utilitarianism and Rawls. Would Marxists endorse maximin? He also adds 'constrained maximisation', with a safety net.


The 10 ideas with the same theme [general ideas about theories of political principle]:

The Stoics saw the whole world as a city [Stoic school, by Long]
The best government blends democracy, monarchy and aristocracy [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil]
Ideology is 'socially necessary illusion' or 'socially necessary false-consciousness' [Adorno, by Finlayson]
Ideologies are mythologies which guide our actions [Solomon]
Political theory should not focus on the state or economy, but on the small scale of power [Deleuze/Guattari, by May]
An ideology judges things now, and offers an ideal, with a strategy for reaching it [Dobson]
In the 1950s they said ideology is finished, and expertise takes over [Lukes]
Political choice can be by utility, or maximin, or maximax [Wolff,J]
Constitutional Patriotism unites around political values (rather than national identity) [Shorten]