Basic Liberties, the Moral Powers and Workplace Democracy

Abstract

Abstract. The article responds to previous work, by Martin O'Neill,

The basic liberties: An essay on analytical specification

“…For example, while O’Neill (2008: 41–42) may be right that an element of workplace democracy is not necessary to the full and informed exercise of the moral powers, this does not settle the question of whether a right to an element of workplace democracy is basic (cf. McLeod, 2018). The same applies to the laissez-faire economic freedoms, such as freedom of contract, that Tomasi (2012a, 2012b) regards as basic liberties.…”

“…A liberty, however, cannot (for example) both be essential (or necessary) for the adequate development and/or the full and/or informed exercise of the moral powers and not so essential (or necessary) to this. Following McLeod (2018: 247), degrees of significance cannot, consistently with Rawls’s attempt to define the basic liberties, be spelled out in terms of degrees of essentiality (or necessity). 9 Distinguishing between the two phases of specification does not help resolve this problem.…”

“…Thus, supposing that some particular liberties are more significant than others, but that the division is not simply between those that are significant and those that are not, the proper way to cash this out cannot be in terms of degrees of necessity of the liberties in question to the full and informed exercise, or institutional protection, of the moral powers. Rather, if differences in degrees of significance of particular liberties are to be correlated with other gradated differences, then the appropriate appeal should be to the extent to which it is probable that, in the absence of a given particular liberty’s taking on the functional role of a basic liberty, the full or informed exercise of (at least one of) the moral powers will, partly due to social conditions, be significantly impeded, stunted or atrophy (McLeod, 2018: 246–247).…”

“…Some theorists have held that such moral rights as the right to engage in sit-ins and mass picketing during strikes, or to participate in other forms of direct action, do not count as, and can take priority over, freedoms that liberals tend to regard as basic (Gourevitch, 2018; Raekstad and Rossi, 2021). The question has also arisen as to whether a right to an element of workplace democracy, or economic democracy, is basic by liberal lights (Clark and Gintis, 1978; Gourevitch, 2014; McLeod, 2018; O’Neill, 2008). Moreover, there is a prominent and ongoing controversy about whether certain laissez-faire economic freedoms qualify, as Tomasi (2012a, 2012b) argues, as basic liberties.…”