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 Here's another way to approach
Gauthier's theory. He says there are five core
concepts --
- A morally free
zone. This is a zone or area of
activity that has the features of a
perfectly competitive market. In a
perfect market no one can influence
prices, everyone has all the relevant
information all the time, and there are
no 'externalities' as defined by
economists. Externalities exist when
some parties get benefits without being
liable for any costs or when some
parties are able to push costs onto
others. (An example of the first would
occur if a company built a light house
and others were able to benefit from it
without incurring any of the costs. An
example of the second would occur if a
manufacturer dumps his waste in a river
and farmers downstream have to pay to
clean it up.) In a perfectly competitive
market, Gauthier believes that moral
issues simply do not arise.
- Minimax relative
concession. The principle of minimax
relative concession states, roughly,
that if several people are bargaining,
it is rational for them to reach
agreement on a compromise that minimizes
the "relative magnitude" of the largest
concession that any of them has to make.
The relative magnitude is the ratio of
the concession they make (in bargaining)
to the largest concession they could
make (if they received nothing more than
what they would get in the initial
bargaining position).
- Constrained
maximization. Constrained
maximization is to be contrasted with
straightforward maximization. When a
person renounces the latter and agrees
to be governed by mutually advantageous
moral constraints, provided that others
do so as well, that person becomes a
constrained maximizer.
- The proviso.
The proviso applies to the initial
bargaining situation in which people
agree to cooperate. It says, briefly,
that no one may bring to the initial
bargaining situation anything gained by
harming others. It prohibits "bettering
one's position through interaction
worsening the position of another." (Morals
by Agreement, p. 16)
- The Archimedean
point. The Archimedean point is
the position or viewpoint of an
imaginary "rational actor freed, not
from individuality but from the content
of any particular individuality, an
actor aware that she is an individual
with capacities and preferences both
particular in themselves and distinctive
in relation to those of her fellows, but
unaware of which capacities, which
preferences." Such an actor has an
impartial point of view. Gauthier hopes
to show that the "principles embodying
the norms of just interaction" that
would be chosen by this impartial actor
are those that he developed starting
from the viewpoint of the rational
individual who is aware of his or her
capacities and preferences. [Morals
by Agreement, p. 233, 235]
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