Exploitation and coercion

✍ Scribed by Deirdre Golash

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 557 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5363
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00136965

✦ Synopsis

If you are interested in buying my house, in determining what price to offer me you may take into account its spaciousness, sturdiness and location, but not the difficulty I may have in finding another buyer because of assorted prejudices against me. In other words, I have a right not to be exploitedto receive a fair value for my goods. In this paper I shall analyze the concept of exploitation and show that in some sorts of cases exploitation can be prevented only by the use of coercion. I argue that the use of coercion in such cases is justified, and in particular that libertarian restrictions against the use of coercion are untenable. * I would like to express my appreciation to Professor Raymond Martin for his many helpful criticisms and suggestions, and to Professors Conrad Johnson and Daniel Hausman, who provided help on an earlier version of this paper. I owe special gratitude to Professor Laurence Thomas, whose encouragement has helped me over many difficult phases in the writing of this paper, and whose ideas have contributed greatly to its final shape.