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David O. Brink, Responsibility and Fair Opportunity, Oxford University Press, 2021, 426pp., $51.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780198859468.
Reviewed by Allen Buchanan, Duke University
This is a wonderful book. It provides a remarkably clear, well-argued articulation of a theory of moral and legal responsibility that is informed by and responsive to relevant philosophical, legal, and psychological literatures. David Brink patiently and scrupulously considers alternative views and objections to his own view, providing a fair, balanced, and constructive treatment of some of the most complicated issues in Moral Philosophy and the Philosophy of Law. Unlike all too many philosophers, he does not treat law as merely an instrument for implementing moral principles that are discovered independently of reaping the fruits of legal reasoning. Instead, he appreciates the role of law in the development of morality, as well as the influence of morality on the law.
The scope of the book…
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