open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/jaep.4.38

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/50519

A Compromise Solution to the Immigration Problem ： A Response to Michael Boylan

英語

2012-08

北海道大学大学院文学研究科応用倫理研究教育センター

Journal of applied ethics and philosophy

4

38-41

Author Meets the Critics: Michael Boylan’s Morality and Global Justice Introductory Note The following exchange occurred at 21st Annual meeting of the Association for Professional and Practical Ethics held on March 1-4, 2012, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The session was an author meets critics session on Boylan's 2011 book published by Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. The topic of the discussion is a controversial treatment of immigration by Boylan in his chapter on immigration. The critics were: Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez and Julie E. Kirsch, who provide critical assessments of Boylan’s claims. Boylan then offers a reply to their arguments

In Morality and Global Justice, Michael Boylan presents us with a set of solutions to some of the world’s most pressing moral issues. Boylan claims that his solutions are not utopian; instead, they are practical, workable policy recommendations that governments and other organizations should adopt. For the most part, Boylan is correct; there are no obviously insurmountable obstacles to implementing many of his recommendations. But, as he himself admits, his position on immigrants and refugees borders on the utopian (Boylan 2011, 204). In what follows, I will discuss two concerns that I have about his position. The first concern (1) is consequentialist: I fear that implementing a policy of open borders may lead to economic, environmental, and political consequences that are on balance undesirable. The second (2) is practical: even if American citizens have moral reasons for supporting a policy of open borders, they may have reasons of self-interest for rejecting it. If this is correct, then Boylan may have a difficult time garnering the support necessary to make the policy a reality.

紀要論文

Version of Record

1883-0129

1884-0590