The Weight of the Past: A Reply to Lariguet and Vercellone
Main Article Content
Abstract
In The Temporal Dimension of Justice I analyse whether the redress of historical injustices can be reconciled with prospective demands for distributive justice. Starting from Jeremy Waldron’s thesis of the supersession of historical injustices by changing circumstances, I propose a modified version that, while requiring priority to those below a threshold of well-being, accepts that historical injustices must be redressed even in conditions of need. Guillermo Lariguet examines this new thesis and asks whether it implies accepting the absence of genuine moral dilemmas. Adriana Vercellone analyses the application of this thesis to questions of political legitimacy and asks whether the argument that indigenous peoples should have differentiated political rights in Argentina should be extended to other minorities, such as immigrants. Here I seek to answer these questions by showing that the past carries weight both in what justice requires in the present and in the design of public institutions.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author is required to sign a letter for the transferal of rights, and to authorize the distribution of his or her article through any format.
The reproduction of articles —but not of images—is permitted, provided the source is cited and the authors’ rights respected.
Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivar 4.0 Internacional.
References
Blomfield, Megan, 2021, “Reparations and Egalitarianism”, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 24, pp. 1177–1195. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-021-10201-8> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-021-10201-8
Espíndola, Juan y Moisés Vaca, 2014, “The Problem of Historical Rectification for Rawlsian Theory”, Res Publica, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 227–243. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-014-9244-z> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-014-9244-z
Gardner, John, 2018, From Personal Life to Private Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198818755.001.0001
Kymlicka, Will, 1995, Multicultural Citizenship. A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, (Oxford Political Theory), Oxford University Press, Oxford. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0198290918.001.0001
Lariguet, Guillermo, 2025, “El estatus conceptual de los principios de justicia, los experimentos mentales y el papel de la narrativa histórica en la obra de Santiago Truccone", Diánoia, vol. 70, no. 95, p. e2120. <https://doi.org/10.22201/iifs.18704913e.2025.95.2120>
Lariguet, Guillermo, 2010, “Los dilemas morales qua límites de la racionalidad práctica”, Diánoia, vol. 55, no. 64, pp. 71–108. <https://doi.org/10.21898/dia.v55i64.221> DOI: https://doi.org/10.21898/dia.v55i64.221
Loewe, Daniel, 2023, Multiculturalismo, identidad, plurinacionalidad y todas esas cosas, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Ciudad de México.
Luoma, Michael y Margaret Moore, 2024, “Rectifying Historical Territorial Injustices”, Res Publica, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 683–703. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-024-09660-4> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-024-09660-4
Marey, Macarena y Alejandro De Oto, 2024, “Historic Injustices as Matters of the Present”, Res Publica, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 663–682. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-024-09657-z> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-024-09657-z
Nuti, Alasia, 2019, Injustice and the Reproduction of History. Structural Inequalities, Gender and Redress, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. <https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108325592> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108325592
Truccone, Santiago, 2024a, “Legacies of Historical Injustice: What is Owed to the Victims of Past Injustices? Introduction to the Special Issue”, Res Publica, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 643–661. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-024-09693-9> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-024-09693-9
Truccone, Santiago, 2024b, The Temporal Dimension of Justice. From Post-Colonial Injustices to Climate Reparations, De Gruyter, Berlín/Boston. <https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111445946> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111445946
Truccone, Santiago, 2023, “Experimentos mentales y el rol de la historia”, en Guillermo Lariguet (dir.), La metaética puesta a punto, Colección Ciencia y Tecnología, Editorial Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe.
Vercellone, Adriana L., 2025, “Hacia una reparación del pasado colonial: Alcances y límites de la ‘tesis de sustitución parcial’ ”, Diánoia, vol. 70, no. 95, p. e2119. <https://doi.org/10.22201/iifs.18704913e.2025.95.2119>
Vercellone, Adriana L., 2020, “Legitimidad política y voluntarismo: dos argumentos en favor del consentimiento tácito y la democracia”, Cuestiones Políticas, vol. 27, no. 64, pp. 223–245. <https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3764.16> DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3764.16
Waldron, Jeremy, 2011, “The Principle of Proximity”, NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper, no. 11–08. Disponible en: SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1742413. <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1742413> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1742413
Waldron, Jeremy, 2004, “Settlement, Return, and the Supersession Thesis”, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 237–268. <https://doi.org/10.2202/1565-3404.1093> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2202/1565-3404.1093
Waldron, Jeremy, 1992, “Superseding Historic Injustice”, Ethics, vol. 103, no. 1, pp. 4–28. <https://doi.org/10.1086/293468> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/293468
Waligore, Timothy, 2017, “Legitimate Expectations, Historical Injustice, and Perverse Incentives for Settlers”, Moral Philosophy and Politics, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 207–228. <https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2016-0032> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2016-0032
Wenar, Leif, 2006, “Reparations for the Future”, Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 396–405. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2006.00344.x> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2006.00344.x