caa a22 4500 388110058 CHVBK 20180307125351.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130s1999 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S026505250000234X doi S026505250000234X pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S026505250000234X Kraut Richard Philosophy, Northwestern University Politics, Neutrality, and the Good [Elektronische Daten] [Richard Kraut] A large number of prominent philosophers have in recent years advocated the thesis that the modern nation-state should adopt a stance of neutrality toward questions about the nature of the human good. The government, according to this way of thinking, has two proper goals, neither of which require it to make assumptions about what the constituents of a flourishing life are. First, the state must protect people against the invasion of their rights and uphold those principles of justice without which there can be no stable and lasting social order. This goal is accomplished through a guarantee of basic civil liberties and the enforcement of a criminal code that prohibits murder, theft, fraud, and other widely recognized harms. Second, the state should promote the general welfare of the citizens by providing them with or helping them acquire the resources they need in order to lead lives of their own choosing. There are certain all-purpose means that people need in order to accomplish their goals—money, health, opportunities for employment—and it is legitimate for the state to pursue policies that enable citizens to acquire these goods. It may build roads, raise an army, regulate the economy, insure standards of safety, and supervise any other projects that give people the basic wherewithal they need to pursue their own ends. Copyright © Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation 1999 Social Philosophy and Policy Cambridge University Press 16/1(1999), 315-332 0265-0525 16:1<315 1999 16 SOY https://doi.org/10.1017/S026505250000234X text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S026505250000234X text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Kraut Richard Philosophy, Northwestern University NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Social Philosophy and Policy Cambridge University Press 16/1(1999), 315-332 0265-0525 16:1<315 1999 16 SOY CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge