title: Looking to Hume for justice: on the utility of Hume's view of justice for American health care reform.
abstract: This essay argues that Hume's theory of justice can be useful in framing a more persuasive case for universal access in health care. Theories of justice derived from a Rawlsian social contract tradition tend to make the conditions for deliberation on justice remote from the lives of most persons, while religiously-inspired views require superhuman levels of benevolence. By contrast, Hume's theory derives justice from the prudent reflections of socially-encumbered selves. This provides a more accessible moral theory and a more realistic path to the establishment of universal access.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599-7240, USA.
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Churchill
mesh_terms: D026686:Beneficence; D028663:Ethical Theory; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D040821:Human Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D010686:Philosophy, Medical / Q000266:history; D012606:Scotland; D012935:Social Justice; D028725:Theology; D014481:United States