Abstract
Though the common sense defense of affirmative action (or “employment equity”) appeals to principles of restitution, philosophers have tried to defend it in other ways. In contrast, I defend it by appealing to the notion of restitution, arguing (1) that alternative attempts to justify affirmative action fail; and (2) that ordinary affirmative action programs need to be supplemented and amended in keeping with the principles this suggests.
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Leo Groarke is associate professor of philosophy at Wilfrid Laurier University. His work has appeared in a number of scholarly journals, including Dialogue, Atlantis, The Public Affairs Quarterly, Teaching Philosophy and The Journal of the History of Philosophy. His books include Nuclear War: Philosophical Perspectives (1985) and Greek Scepticism (forthcoming from McGill-Queen's University Press).
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Groarke, L. Affirmative action as a form of restitution. J Bus Ethics 9, 207–213 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382646
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382646