The Geometry of Desert

Shelly Kagan is the Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale, where he has taught since 1995.

The Geometry of Desert is essential reading for those who value moral desert, but it also has a great deal to offer those who do not.

• Preface ; Acknowledgments ; A Note to the Reader ; 1. MORAL DESERT ; 1.1 A Familiar Thought ; 1.2 Some Familiar Questions ; 1.3 Skepticism ; 1.4 Intrinsic Value ; 1.5 Unfamiliar Questions ; PART I: NONCOMPARATIVE DESERT ; 2. FAULT FORFEITS FIRST ; 2.1 The Basic View ; 2.2 Pluralism ; 2.3 Extending the Account ; 2.4 Discount Rates and Multipliers ; 3. DESERT GRAPHS ; 3.1 Graphs ; 3.2 Varying Slopes ; 3.3 Rotation ; 3.4 Peaks ; 3.5 Multiple Peaks ; 3.6 Comparing Sides ; 3.7 Bell Motion ; 3.8 The Sym Mountain ; 3.9 Shift ; 4. SKYLINES ; 4.1 The Occupation of the X Axis ; 4.2 Constant Skylines ; 4.3 The V Shaped Skyline ; 4.4 Varieties of Desert ; 4.5 Taking Stock ; PART II: COMPLICATIONS AND ALTERNATIVES ; 5. OTHER SHAPES ; 5.1 Plateaus ; 5.2 Retributivism and Plateaus ; 5.3 Simple Straight Lines ; 5.4 Bent Lines ; 5.5 Curved Desert ; 5.6 Detailing Curved Desert ; 5.7 Curved Plateaus ; 6. PLACING PEAKS ; 6.1 The Mapping Function ; 6.2 Curved Mapping Functions ; 6.3 Revisiting the Sym Mountain ; 6.4 Revisiting the V Shaped Skyline ; 6.5 Further Constraints on the Skyline ; 6.6 The Logical Limits of Bell Motion ; 6.7 Disaggregation ; PART III: COMPARATIVE DESERT ; 7. THE RATIO VIEW ; 7.1 The Idea of Comparative Desert ; 7.2 Problems for the Ratio View ; 7.3 Optimism ; 7.4 The Impossibility Defense ; 7.5 Absolute Zero ; 8. SIMILAR OFFENSE ; 8.1 The Y Gap View ; 8.2 Reconsidering the Cases ; 8.3 More on the Y Gap Constraint ; 8.4 Percentages ; 8.5 A Fourth View ; 9. GRAPHING COMPARATIVE DESERT ; 9.1 Relative Advantage ; 9.2 Two Problems ; 9.3 Graphing the X Gap View ; 9.4 Motion Along the Y Axis ; 9.5 Graphing the Y Gap View ; 10. VARIATION ; 10.1 Comparative Bell Motion ; 10.2 Comparative Skylines ; 10.3 Moral Significance Again ; 10.4 Two More Possibilities ; 10.5 One Size Fits All ; 10.6 Sliding Up ; 11. GROUPS ; 11.1 Two Approaches ; 11.2 Size ; 11.3 Another Look ; 11.4 Adjusting the Graphs ; 11.5 Variable Steepness Reconsidered ; PART IV: DESERT ; 12. DESERT TAKEN AS A WHOLE ; 12.1 Partial Values ; 12.2 Open Questions ; 12.3 Rough Comparability ; 12.4 Another Series ; 12.5 Other Values ; 13. RESERVATIONS ; 13.1 Deontology ; 13.2 Methodology ; 13.3 Ideology ; Endnotes ; References ; Index