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The Rhythm of Justice: On Temporal Indeterminacy in Normative Reasoning

Patrick Cockburn Orcid Logo

Res Publica

Swansea University Author: Patrick Cockburn Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s11158-025-09741-y

Abstract

This article considers how political actors committed to a moral value like equality can cause havoc with our lives if they choose to apply those values in ways that are temporally absurd or arbitrary. The central claim is that without considering the temporal structures of our political commitments...

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Published in: Res Publica
ISSN: 1356-4765 1572-8692
Published: Springer Nature 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70408
Abstract: This article considers how political actors committed to a moral value like equality can cause havoc with our lives if they choose to apply those values in ways that are temporally absurd or arbitrary. The central claim is that without considering the temporal structures of our political commitments our political theorising will remain indeterminate with respect to social practice. This claim is developed in two steps. First, debates on ‘indeterminacy’ in normative theorising are examined to develop a sceptical argument showing that a lack of temporal reference points can lead to a lack of certainty in the meaning of normative principles. Second, debates on time and social justice are used to illustrate how temporal reference points can link normative principles to the existential time of human lives in meaningful and important ways. To ignore these lessons about the place of temporality in normative reasoning is to ignore the indeterminacy of many of our political commitments and misunderstand the extent of our normative disagreements with others.
Keywords: Time; Justice; Realism; Indeterminacy; Ideal theory
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Funders: Swansea University

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