Political Philosophy, Empathy and Political Justice by Matt Edge

Author:Matt Edge [Edge, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy, History & Theory, Political Science, Political, General
ISBN: 9781317701866
Google: fD8-CgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-07-24T12:24:44+00:00

5 Freedom and Empathy

Passing the Empathy Test

There is a vital element of my discussion which has, thus far, gone undiscussed. Namely, a theory of justice itself. What kind of theory can we create in order to ‘pass’ the empathy test? Which concepts and ideas would this theory use, and how do these relate to the process of radical concern? What kind of a theory would someone doing radical concern – based, remember, on an ignorance of political theory and its history, as well as a prior ignorance of the basic structure under question – come up with?

This takes us back to the very setup of the empathy test itself (see Chapter 3). Remember, absolute unanimity is required, meaning that the theory must demonstrate equal concern to all the inhabitants of City Gamma. For, if even a single person votes no, then the theory of justice has failed to pass the empathy test, it has failed to win everyone over.

Now, the author – the radical practitioner in our case – has a few things in her favour to help her succeed in what appears to be, frankly, a pretty thankless task. First, she can assume that the majority of citizens will want to remain in City Gamma and not face the potential ‘state-of-nature’ consequences of seeing the polity evaporate and/or, potentially, disintegrating into civil war. She knows this because the proposal of the ‘average person’ has been accepted by majority verdict. The very existence of the empathy test itself stands testament to such a shared resolve, at least, a shared resolve of some degree.

Second, of course, the radical practitioner has both radical concern, and the manual of concern, to help her. She will publish the manual of concern, remember, alongside her theory of justice. Both radical concern, and its accompanying manual, can help her to create a successful theory of justice based on the conditions she has witnessed, and the lives of those who live within them. At the very least, this provides her with key evidence about an unacceptable minimum, but it also may, as we shall see, take her further.

Ultimately, though, she must rely on the very reason she was selected in the first place, namely her empathy, and I must rely on this here too – as must you, as you judge my effort. This is an empathy test. It is not a state of nature, nor an original position, nor a kingdom of ends, it is founded on knowledge, albeit limited, benevolent, knowledge. And it is this on which any proposer (of a theory of justice) must rely. Can we show equal concern to all the inhabitants we are discoursing about? If not, very simply, our proposal shall fail.

Of course, equal concern is demanded by the very setup of the empathy test, but it is also demanded by the internal makeup of the radical practitioner herself – it is an important part of who she is. For us, here and now, the empathy test provides a kind

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