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Fair Play and Political Obligation.md

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Fair Play and Political Obligation: 20 Years On

AJ Simmons 2001

Principle of Fairness/Fair Play in most general form:

"those who benefit from the good-faith sacrifices of others, made in support of a mutually beneficial cooperative venture, have a moral obligation to do their part (make reciprocal sacrifices) as well." p29

The 'wrong' that the principle attempts to obligate against is that of unfair self selection. Not necessarily harming others but unfairly taking advantage of the the opportunities created by the sacrifice of others who must bear the full burden - in other words, free riding. p30

A concern for fairness requires than any opportunities for non-harmful free riding be fairly distributed themselves. p30

Political schemes can typically accommodated significant non-harmful free riding. p 31

"Unless participants in a cooperative scheme have a prior right that others will refrain from actions that will frustrate their scheme, such actions are not unfair." p31

If one's actions give no reasonable grounds for expectation of my compliance with some scheme, then my non-compliance cannot be seen as unfair. p31 (Isn't this just tacit consent?)

"What makes considerations of fairness an issue is not mere benefaction from the efforts of others, but benefaction where failure to reciprocate would take advantage of others." p33

Free riding requires more than receipt of benefits. Free riders take benefits provided by others without reciprocating, while simultaneously preferring receipt of benefits at the price of cooperation than non-receipt or self provision. p35

But many political endeavours forcibly preclude self provision. Even in the case of presumptive public goods, voluntary acceptance is still necessary to generate obligations. p36

Genuine cooperation requires not just successful coordination of actions, but also consideration for the motives of participants. The intent must be to generate mutual benefit from a jointly valued outcome rather than accidentally doing so or intentional charity. p39

"Services may be rendered, but no fair return is due." p39

Bibtex @article{simmons2001fair, title={Fair Play and Political Obligation: Twenty Years Later}, author={Simmons, A.}, journal={Justification and Legitimacy: Essays on Rights and Obligations}, volume={27}, pages={29--31}, year={2001} }