Lawrence C Becker is a Fellow of Hollins University, and Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, College of William and Mary. He is the author of four previous monographs, including Property Rights (1977), Reciprocity (1986), and A New Stoicism (1998). With Charlotte B. Becker he co-edited two editions of the Encyclopedia of Ethics (1992; 2001).

Beckers discussion of health is fascinating and raises many important questions for further pursuit. And despite my concerns regarding the causal connections between healthy agency and the norms of justice, I find the reorientation Becker calls for a welcome and fundamental insight. Philosophers working on distributive justice ought to pursue the promising path Becker lays out for us here, and start thinking about how to habilitate agents so that they can best function in their environments.

• Introduction ; Part One: Habilitation and Basic Justice ; Preface to Part One ; 1. Basic Justice and Habilitation: Concept and Conception ; 1. Basic Justice ; 2. Habilitation: Concept and Conception ; 3. Normative Theories with a Close Connection to Habilitation ; 4. Habilitation: Conception and Framework ; 2. The Circumstances of Habilitation for Basic Justice ; 1. Functional Abilities in a Given Range of Environments ; 2. Summary of the Circumstances of Habilitation ; 3. The Centrality of Health and Agency ; Part Two: Health, Healthy Agency, and the Health Metric ; Preface to Part Two ; 3. Eudaimonistic Health: Complete Health, Moral Development, Well-Being, and Happiness ; 1. Health, Well-Being, and Virtue ; 2. A Unified Conception of Health, Positive and Negative ; 3. The Science of Mental Health, Happiness, and Virtue ; 4. Health, Happiness, and Basic Justice ; 4. Good Health as Reliably Competent Functioning ; 1. Basic health: An Integrated, Limited General Concept ; 2. Habilitation, Coping Abilities, and Agency ; 3. Good (basic) Health as Reliably Competent Functioning ; 5. Robustly Healthy Agency ; 1. The Health Metric ; 2. Health Science: Limited and Unified ; 3. Habilitation into Robustly Healthy Agency ; 6. Healthy Agency as the Representative Good for Basic Justice ; 1. Healthy Agency versus Wealth and Income ; 2. Healthy Agency versus Pluralism ; 3. The Representativeness of Habilitation into Healthy Agency ; 4. Theory All the Way Down: A Public Policy Objection ; Part Three: Healthy Agency and the Norms of Basic Justice ; Preface to Part Three ; 7. Healthy Agency and Its Behavioral Tendencies ; 1. Dispositions Toward Health and Habilitation ; 2. Dispositions About the Subject Matter of Justice ; 8. Healthy Agency and the Norms of Basic Justice ; 1. Habilitative Necessities and Justice ; 2. Habilitative Stability, Strength, and Efficiency ; 3. Second-Order Norms, ; 4. Moving Beyond Basic Justice ; Part Four: Relevance, Influence, and Prejudice Revisited ; Preface to Part Four ; 9. Relevance, Influence, and Prejudice ; 1. Exclusionary Reminders ; 2. Comprehensiveness and Representativeness ; 10. Conclusion and Extrication ; 1. Health, Individual Liberty, and Social Stability: A Fantasy ; 2. Approximations to Health ; 3. Pseudo-Problems and Elusive Targets: Sensible Replies to the Foole ; 4. Hope Rather than Fantasy ; Acknowledgments ; Bibliography

Lawrence C Becker is a Fellow of Hollins University, and Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, College of William and Mary. He is the author of four previous monographs, including Property Rights (1977), Reciprocity (1986), and A New Stoicism (1998). With Charlotte B. Becker he co-edited two editions of the Encyclopedia of Ethics (1992; 2001).

Beckers discussion of health is fascinating and raises many important questions for further pursuit. And despite my concerns regarding the causal connections between healthy agency and the norms of justice, I find the reorientation Becker calls for a welcome and fundamental insight. Philosophers working on distributive justice ought to pursue the promising path Becker lays out for us here, and start thinking about how to habilitate agents so that they can best function in their environments.

• Introduction ; Part One: Habilitation and Basic Justice ; Preface to Part One ; 1. Basic Justice and Habilitation: Concept and Conception ; 1. Basic Justice ; 2. Habilitation: Concept and Conception ; 3. Normative Theories with a Close Connection to Habilitation ; 4. Habilitation: Conception and Framework ; 2. The Circumstances of Habilitation for Basic Justice ; 1. Functional Abilities in a Given Range of Environments ; 2. Summary of the Circumstances of Habilitation ; 3. The Centrality of Health and Agency ; Part Two: Health, Healthy Agency, and the Health Metric ; Preface to Part Two ; 3. Eudaimonistic Health: Complete Health, Moral Development, Well-Being, and Happiness ; 1. Health, Well-Being, and Virtue ; 2. A Unified Conception of Health, Positive and Negative ; 3. The Science of Mental Health, Happiness, and Virtue ; 4. Health, Happiness, and Basic Justice ; 4. Good Health as Reliably Competent Functioning ; 1. Basic health: An Integrated, Limited General Concept ; 2. Habilitation, Coping Abilities, and Agency ; 3. Good (basic) Health as Reliably Competent Functioning ; 5. Robustly Healthy Agency ; 1. The Health Metric ; 2. Health Science: Limited and Unified ; 3. Habilitation into Robustly Healthy Agency ; 6. Healthy Agency as the Representative Good for Basic Justice ; 1. Healthy Agency versus Wealth and Income ; 2. Healthy Agency versus Pluralism ; 3. The Representativeness of Habilitation into Healthy Agency ; 4. Theory All the Way Down: A Public Policy Objection ; Part Three: Healthy Agency and the Norms of Basic Justice ; Preface to Part Three ; 7. Healthy Agency and Its Behavioral Tendencies ; 1. Dispositions Toward Health and Habilitation ; 2. Dispositions About the Subject Matter of Justice ; 8. Healthy Agency and the Norms of Basic Justice ; 1. Habilitative Necessities and Justice ; 2. Habilitative Stability, Strength, and Efficiency ; 3. Second-Order Norms, ; 4. Moving Beyond Basic Justice ; Part Four: Relevance, Influence, and Prejudice Revisited ; Preface to Part Four ; 9. Relevance, Influence, and Prejudice ; 1. Exclusionary Reminders ; 2. Comprehensiveness and Representativeness ; 10. Conclusion and Extrication ; 1. Health, Individual Liberty, and Social Stability: A Fantasy ; 2. Approximations to Health ; 3. Pseudo-Problems and Elusive Targets: Sensible Replies to the Foole ; 4. Hope Rather than Fantasy ; Acknowledgments ; Bibliography

Lawrence C Becker is a Fellow of Hollins University, and Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, College of William and Mary. He is the author of four previous monographs, including Property Rights (1977), Reciprocity (1986), and A New Stoicism (1998). With Charlotte B. Becker he co-edited two editions of the Encyclopedia of Ethics (1992; 2001).

Beckers discussion of health is fascinating and raises many important questions for further pursuit. And despite my concerns regarding the causal connections between healthy agency and the norms of justice, I find the reorientation Becker calls for a welcome and fundamental insight. Philosophers working on distributive justice ought to pursue the promising path Becker lays out for us here, and start thinking about how to habilitate agents so that they can best function in their environments.

• Introduction ; Part One: Habilitation and Basic Justice ; Preface to Part One ; 1. Basic Justice and Habilitation: Concept and Conception ; 1. Basic Justice ; 2. Habilitation: Concept and Conception ; 3. Normative Theories with a Close Connection to Habilitation ; 4. Habilitation: Conception and Framework ; 2. The Circumstances of Habilitation for Basic Justice ; 1. Functional Abilities in a Given Range of Environments ; 2. Summary of the Circumstances of Habilitation ; 3. The Centrality of Health and Agency ; Part Two: Health, Healthy Agency, and the Health Metric ; Preface to Part Two ; 3. Eudaimonistic Health: Complete Health, Moral Development, Well-Being, and Happiness ; 1. Health, Well-Being, and Virtue ; 2. A Unified Conception of Health, Positive and Negative ; 3. The Science of Mental Health, Happiness, and Virtue ; 4. Health, Happiness, and Basic Justice ; 4. Good Health as Reliably Competent Functioning ; 1. Basic health: An Integrated, Limited General Concept ; 2. Habilitation, Coping Abilities, and Agency ; 3. Good (basic) Health as Reliably Competent Functioning ; 5. Robustly Healthy Agency ; 1. The Health Metric ; 2. Health Science: Limited and Unified ; 3. Habilitation into Robustly Healthy Agency ; 6. Healthy Agency as the Representative Good for Basic Justice ; 1. Healthy Agency versus Wealth and Income ; 2. Healthy Agency versus Pluralism ; 3. The Representativeness of Habilitation into Healthy Agency ; 4. Theory All the Way Down: A Public Policy Objection ; Part Three: Healthy Agency and the Norms of Basic Justice ; Preface to Part Three ; 7. Healthy Agency and Its Behavioral Tendencies ; 1. Dispositions Toward Health and Habilitation ; 2. Dispositions About the Subject Matter of Justice ; 8. Healthy Agency and the Norms of Basic Justice ; 1. Habilitative Necessities and Justice ; 2. Habilitative Stability, Strength, and Efficiency ; 3. Second-Order Norms, ; 4. Moving Beyond Basic Justice ; Part Four: Relevance, Influence, and Prejudice Revisited ; Preface to Part Four ; 9. Relevance, Influence, and Prejudice ; 1. Exclusionary Reminders ; 2. Comprehensiveness and Representativeness ; 10. Conclusion and Extrication ; 1. Health, Individual Liberty, and Social Stability: A Fantasy ; 2. Approximations to Health ; 3. Pseudo-Problems and Elusive Targets: Sensible Replies to the Foole ; 4. Hope Rather than Fantasy ; Acknowledgments ; Bibliography