Note: This is Part 1 of the “Justice as Conditionals” series.

This post essentially replaces the previous “Justice as Open Conditional Behaviors” as the preferred beginning or the first elaboration of the political philosophy I’m developing. I initially thought of the concept around October of 2021 and the idea progressed steadily for a couple weeks. It then fell into stagnation, with a couple of exceptions, between then and now. Because of this history, the first few posts regarding the theory are likely to be revisions of what I wrote down back then. I’ll include an indication with the first posts truly new concepts begin appearing.

Ahead of all that, however, I wish to state what I believe to be the greatest features of the theory. First, it overlaps with social contract theory in a number of places. Among these is that it does not make significant assumptions about the morality of the people it considers. Second, it seems obvious. In particular, one might hear it and say “Yeah, that is my main motivation.” This is unlike much of social contract theory, which relies on a historical account of the government’s formation. While I expect this theory to be capable of making such an account, it also accounts for people born into an existing system.

Lastly, I wish to make clear my influences, primarily Aquinas and Nozick. Aquinas contributes most through his conceptions of the four types of Law. Nozick contributes to the more flaw-exposing, casual nature of these posts as well as what I expect to be a fairly libertarian bent once government begins being discussed.