In political philosophy, ideal moral theories (henceforth, simply ideal theories) have traditionally specified the conditions that have to be fulfilled for a state of affairs to be fully just (Rawls 1971: 8, 245, 351; Philips 1985: 551). As such, many suggest that ideal theories provide a long-term moral target at which the agents of justice should aim (Rawls 1971: 245–246, 1999: 89–90; Buchanan 2004: 65). By contrast, many nonideal theories analyze states of affairs that are less than fully just and tell us how to achieve a society that is more, even if not fully, just (Robeyns 2008: 346–349; Stemplowska 2008: 324). Thus, many claim that nonideal theories function as moralities of transition that tell us how to advance justice (Rawls 1971: 244–246, 1999: 89–90; Philips 1985: 551; Buchanan 2004: 67–678). Ideal theories are often criticized for failing to guide political action in the real world as many believe this is a central purpose of a normative theory (Philips 1985;...
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Culp, J., Hassoun, N. (2011). Ideal Moral Theory. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_196
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