Putting the “Structural” Back in “Structural Injustice”

David Estlund argues that theories of structural injustice have to show how victims can have warranted grievances, generally expressed through reactive attitudes. But he argues that no social structure can by itself be the target of warranted grievance. We argue that warrant for reactive attitudes is an inappropriate standard to hold theories of structural injustice to, because reactive attitudes are tightly connected to the mental states that motivate actions. This connection entails that reactive attitudes presuppose that agents are the perpetrators of injustice. But the point of the idea of structural injustice is that this presupposition is often unwarranted.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Ethics
Published
2025-03-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1086/733917
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Political and Economic history of UK and US
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.52
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article

Putting the “Structural” Back in “Structural Injustice”

Jake Monaghan, Kirun Sankaran
1 citations
Ethics
Political and Economic history of UK and US
8.52
article

Putting the “Structural” Back in “Structural Injustice”

Jake Monaghan, Kirun Sankaran
article en
1 citations

Abstract

David Estlund argues that theories of structural injustice have to show how victims can have warranted grievances, generally expressed through reactive attitudes. But he argues that no social structure can by itself be the target of warranted grievance. We argue that warrant for reactive attitudes is an inappropriate standard to hold theories of structural injustice to, because reactive attitudes are tightly connected to the mental states that motivate actions. This connection entails that reactive attitudes presuppose that agents are the perpetrators of injustice. But the point of the idea of structural injustice is that this presupposition is often unwarranted.

EthicsVol. 135(3)
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Political and Economic history of UK and US
8.52
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