Kok-Chor Tan

Kok-chor Tan
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Graduate Chair
kctan (at) sas.upenn.edu
Ph.D. University of Toronto
Office Location: 
464 Cohen Hall
Research Interests: 
  • Social and Political Philosophy
  • Ethics
  • International Justice

    • My area of specialization is in political philosophy, and I am especially interested in problems of global justice, nationalism and human rights. Currently, I am thinking of a book-length project with the working title “Human Rights and Social Justice in a Diverse World”, and papers on luck egalitarianism. At Penn, my teaching, which reflects these interests, includes courses on global justice, political philosophy, introductory ethics, and specialized courses on topics such multiculturalism and human rights. I have also taught courses in philosophy of law, biomedical ethics, and introduction to philosophy (freshman seminar).

    Selected Publications: 

    Justice Without Borders (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

    Toleration, Diversity and Global Justice (Penn State Press, 2000).

     

    Fuller Publication List

    Books

    1.    Justice Without Borders (Cambridge University Press, 2004). Pp. xiii + 219.

    2.    Toleration, Diversity, and Global Justice (Penn State Press, 2000).  Pp. xii + 233.

    - Reprint: Chapter six (excerpts with editorial revisions) in Cultural Politics in a Global Age, (eds.) H. Moore and D. Held (One World Publications, 2007).

    Journal Articles and Essays

    1.    “A Defense of Luck Egalitarianism,” The Journal of Philosophy CV/11 (2008): 665-690.

    2.    “National Responsibility, Reparations and Distributive Justice”, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 11/4 (2008): 449-464. Special issue on David Miller.

    3.    “Nationalisme libéral et internationalisme égalitaire”, Philosophiques 34/1 (2007): 113-131. Translated from English by J. Couture.

    4.    “The Boundary of Justice and the Justice of Boundaries: defending global egalitarianism,” The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence XIX/2 (2006): 319-344.

    5.    “Cosmopolitan Impartiality and Patriotic Partiality”, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 31 (2005). Printed in 2007.

    6.    “International Toleration: Rawlsian v. Cosmopolitan.” Special Issue of The Leiden Journal of International Law 18/4 (2005), pp. 685-710.

    7.    “Boundary Making and Equal Concern,” Metaphilosophy (2005) 36, 1/2: 50-67.

    -  An early and shorter version appears in Human Rights in Philosophy and Practice, eds. B. Leiser and T.D. Campbell (Ashgate/Darthmouth 2001), pp: 409-421.

    - Reprinted in C. Barry and T. Pogge (eds), Global Institutions and Responsibilities (Blackwell, 2005).

    8.    “Justice and Personal Pursuits,” The Journal of Philosophy CI/7 (2004): 331-362.   

    9.    "Patriotic Obligations," Monist 86/3 (2003): 434-454.

    10.    "Liberal Nationalism and Cosmopolitan Justice," Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 5/4 (2002): 431-461.

    11.    "Reasonable Disagreement and Distributive Justice," The Journal of Value Inquiry 35/4 (2001): 493-507.

    12.    "Critical Notice of John Rawls's The Law of Peoples," The Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31/1 (2001): 113-132.

    -    Reprinted in D. Riedy (ed.), Rawls (Ashgate, 2008)

    13.    "Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples," Ethics 108/2 (1998): 276-295.

    -    Reprinted in C. Kukathas (ed), John Rawls: Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers (Routledge, 2002).

    -    Reprinted in D. Moellendorf and T. Pogge (eds.), Global Justice: seminal essays (Paragon 2008).

    14.    "Kantian Ethics and Global Justice," Social Theory and Practice 23/1 (1997): 53-73.

    15.    "Military Intervention as a Moral Duty," Public Affairs Quarterly 9/1 (1995): 29-46.   

    Chapters in Edited Volumes

    1.    “Enforcing Cosmopolitan Justice: the problem of intervention”, R. Pierik and W. Werner (eds.), Cosmopolitanism in Context (Cambridge University Press forthcoming 2009).

    2.    “Rights, Harms and Institutions,” A. Jagger (ed.), Pogge and his Critics (Polity forthcoming).

    3.    “Liberal Equality,” C. Misak (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of American Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2008): 515-550.

    4.    "Global Democracy: International not Cosmopolitan." D. Chatterjee (ed), Democracy in a Global World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008): 161-183.

    5.    “Colonialism, Reparations, and Global Justice.” J. Miller and R. Kumar (eds), Reparations (Oxford University Press, 2007): 280-306.

    - An early and shorter version appeared as “Colonialism and Reparations” in Moral Issues in Global Perspective, ed. C. Koggel (Broadview Press, 2006 [2nd edition]).

    6.    “Liberalism and Culture: some challenges.” R. Tinnevelt and Verschraegen (eds), Between Cosmopolitan Ideals and State Sovereignty (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006): 77-88.

    7.     “The Problem of Decent Peoples.” D. Reidy and R. Martin (eds), A Realistic Utopia? Essays on Rawls’s Law of Peoples (Blackwell 2006): 76-94.

    8.    “The Duty to Protect.” M. Williams and T. Nardin (eds), NOMOS Vol. 47: Humanitarian Intervention. (NYU Press, 2005), pp.84-116.

    9.    "The Unavoidability of Morality." M. Williams and T. Nardin (eds), NOMOS Vol 47: Humanitarian Intervention (NYU Press, 2005), pp. 286-98.

    10.    "The Demands of Justice and National Allegiances." G. Brock and H. Brighouse (eds), The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism (Cambridge University Press, 2005): pp: 164-179.

    Short Discussion/Introduction

    1.    “Priority for Compatriots”, Economics and Philosophy 22/1 (2006): 115-123. Symposium on Kai Nielsen’s Globalization and Justice.

    A longer paper on the same theme appears in M. Seymour and M. Fritsch (eds.) Reason and Emancipation: essays on the philosophy of Kai Nielsen (Humanity Books, 2007): 363-374.

    2.    With Rahul Kumar: “Introduction”, Journal of Social Philosophy, special issue on Reparations. XXXVII/3 (2006): 323-329.