Liberal egalitarian theories of justice share the egalitarian ideal that inequalities due to factors beyond individual control should be eliminated. This justifies that individuals sometimes receive more (or less) than their marginal productivity, which in turn implies that a change in one individual’s effort sometimes will affect the post-tax income of others. What restrictions should we place...

Philosophers and psychologists have been attracted to two differing accounts of addictive motivation. In this paper, we investigate these two accounts and challenge their mutual claim that addictions compromise a person's self-control. First, we identify some incompatibilities between this claim of reduced self-control and the available evidence from various disciplines. A critical assessment o...

The debate on television’s "public service"obligations can only make full sense if integrated in the broader context of the debate on the best political model for society. In fact, the classic "public service"rationale is based in a normative conception of good and in a suspicious view of the average citizen that is largely tributary of a Platonic or Elitist approach to the political organizati...

An undergraduate education in liberal arts is viewed by many, especially in North America, as a desirable preparation for medical school. In countries where such a pre-medicine curriculum is not available, an introduction of 'humanities in medicine' has recently been emphasized. Few, however, has entertained the idea that Medicine already possesses many elements of a liberal arts education. In ...

In this paper, we evaluate the liberal claim that democratic states devote fewer resources to their militaries. Low military spending is thought to avert conflict spirals and release more resources to fund domestic programs. While prominent in many liberal international relations theories, most notably in Immanuel Kant’s, this proposition has received little empirical scrutiny. Using several in...

Epidemiology has features that resemble those of the traditional liberal arts. This makes it fit both for inclusion in an undergraduate curriculum and as an example in medical school of the continuing value of a liberal education. As a "low-technology" science, epidemiology is readily accessible to nonspecialists. Because it is useful for taking a first look at a new problem, it is applicable t...

Objectives The TITRe2 trial is comparing two haemoglobin (Hb) thresholds for RBC transfusion after cardiac surgery, Hb<9.0g/dl (liberal) vs. Hb<7.5g/dl (restrictive). Based on historic data, and with complete adherence, transfusion rates should be 100% in the liberal and 30% in the restrictive group. Convergence of these rates due to non-adherence severely threatens the power of the trial; ther...

It has been argued, based upon national polling and mid-term election results, that Britain’s Liberal Democrats will lose a substantial number of seats at the next general election. However, such argument is in danger of underestimating the unique importance of strong local party organisation and incumbency to the Liberal Democrats as a platform for subsequent general electoral success. This ar...