The Nature of Desert Claims
Rethinking What it Means to Get One's Due

Offers a new approach to understanding the concept of desert and its relationship to justice.

Kevin Kinghorn (Author)

9781108958097, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 September 2023

237 pages
27 x 18 x 1.6 cm, 0.405 kg

'This is a gem of a book. Precise conceptual analysis, philosophical argumentation of the highest calibre, and incisive engagement with all of the leading authors on desert. It will be a valuable resource for readers in moral and political philosophy studying desert, justice and a host of other related concepts.' Kristján Kristjánsson, University of Birmingham

Our everyday conversations reveal the widespread assumption that positive and negative treatment of others can be justified on the grounds that 'they deserve it'. But what is it exactly to deserve something? In this book, Kevin Kinghorn explores how we came to have this concept and offers an explanation of why people feel so strongly that redress is needed when outcomes are undeserved. Kinghorn probes for that core concern which is common to the range of everyday desert claims people make, ultimately proposing an alternative model of desert which represents a fundamental challenge to the received wisdom on the structure of desert claims. In the end, he argues, our plea for deserved treatment ends up being linked to the universal human concern for a shared narrative, as we seek healthy relationships within a community.

Introduction
Part I. Reviewing the Received Wisdom on Desert: 1. The work we expect desert to do
2. How we came to have the concept 'desert'
3. The scope of desert bases. Part II. An Alternative Model of Desert: 4. Stories that point beyond the three-place model of desert
5. Setting another place for desert
6. Getting exactly what one deserves
7. The fullness of truth and the emptiness of desert
Concluding remarks.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy [HP]