Abstract

This is both a rigorous and accessible book which leads the reader to search for personal answers to his or her everyday questions and uneasiness. Many people are inclined to think, on certain occasions, that if everyone in our society pursued his or her own projects without harming others, or preventing them from realizing their own pursuits, then each one of us would be living the happiest life possible. The author of this work is guided by the intuition that it should not be necessary to know if a particular act is in itself just or unjust, or if its consequences will be the least harmful, in order to know whether or not we would be doing something unjust in producing it. Immediate decisions demand a knowledge of another point of reference which provides an amount of certainty about an action void of injustice. This book tries to offer possible answers to questions of government's involvement, concrete and abstract, with individual pursuit of happiness and the implications of free agency. Much is expected of a government and an individual must separate illusion from justified complaintóor praise. Contents: The Impossible Government; Injustice and Contempt; Justice and the "Sufficient"Reasons; Contempt and Liberty; Justice and the Happy Life; What Could Citizens Expect From Their Governments?