Fair Opportunity and Responsibility (Oxford University Press: 2021) By: David O. Brink Reviewed for Choice Magazine by Ronald F. White, PhD. Mount St. Joseph University

                                                                                                                                                              

This is a complex philosophical and legal analysis of the concepts of “fair opportunity” and “responsibility.” It’s architecture builds upon a host of other moral/legal terms such as: normative competence, cognitive competence, culpability, duress, and provocation. Although we can be held responsible for both praiseworthy and blameworthy actions, this book focused on blameworthy, thus, it is intended to elucidate primarily actions undertaken in criminal law; especially crimes committed by juveniles, the mentally ill, addicts, and battered women. The author persuasively argues that we need to further develop the concept of “partial responsibility” and it’s legal implications. While this is an outstanding philosophical treatise, it’s comprehensibility could have been reinforced with the addition of a few case studies, court cases, and recent events. Critics might wonder whether non-Western cultures embrace the same concepts of fair opportunity and responsibility, thus raising the question of whether those concepts are universal, or rooted exclusively in Western Liberalism. If they are universally applicable, evolutionary psychologists would be interested in the mental mechanisms and brain functions that underlie those concepts. Nevertheless, this is an excellent acquisition for academic libraries that serve law schools, and/or graduate programs in legal jurisprudence or contemporary legal philosophy.


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