With not quite 320 votes cast in our latest poll, here's the top 20:
1. John Rawls (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices) |
2. G.A. Cohen loses to John Rawls by 214–26 |
3. Robert Nozick loses to John Rawls by 217–17, loses to G.A. Cohen by 122–93 |
4. Ronald Dworkin loses to John Rawls by 227–8, loses to Robert Nozick by 103–97 |
5. Joseph Raz loses to John Rawls by 217–13, loses to Ronald Dworkin by 103–80 |
6. Amartya Sen loses to John Rawls by 228–17, loses to Joseph Raz by 111–89 |
7. Martha Nussbaum loses to John Rawls by 225–38, loses to Amartya Sen by 111–107 |
8. H.L.A. Hart loses to John Rawls by 221–16, loses to Martha Nussbaum by 112–110 |
9. Isaiah Berlin loses to John Rawls by 223–21, loses to H.L.A. Hart by 107–88 |
10. T.M. Scanlon loses to John Rawls by 229–6, loses to Isaiah Berlin by 112–84 |
11. Thomas Nagel loses to John Rawls by 229–5, loses to T.M. Scanlon by 95–82 |
12. Jeremy Waldron loses to John Rawls by 229–12, loses to Thomas Nagel by 98–81 |
13. Philip Pettit loses to John Rawls by 233–10, loses to Jeremy Waldron by 84–79 |
14. Charles Taylor loses to John Rawls by 225–13, loses to Philip Pettit by 101–79 |
15. Brian Barry loses to John Rawls by 231–7, loses to Charles Taylor by 91–80 |
16. Joel Feinberg loses to John Rawls by 230–8, loses to Brian Barry by 87–70 |
17. Michael Walzer loses to John Rawls by 226–10, loses to Joel Feinberg by 83–80 |
18. Joshua Cohen loses to John Rawls by 233–5, loses to Michael Walzer by 94–69 |
19. A. John Simmons loses to John Rawls by 232–6, loses to Joshua Cohen by 69–67 |
20. Charles Beitz loses to John Rawls by 235–2, loses to A. John Simmons by 70–59 |
Runners-up for the top 20 include Susan Okin, Samuel Scheffler, Iris Young, and Gerald Gaus. There appears to have been a late surge of some strategic voting for Nussbaum, who was in the top ten even before that (one indication is that 38 people ranked her ahead of Rawls, compared to, say, 17 who ranked Nozick or Sen ahead, or the 8 who ranked Dworkin ahead--though that she came out behind Sen is, to my mind, surprising). But as with all these polls, the precise ordinal rank is less revealing than the broader picture (the top 5, the top 10, the top 20). In that regard, the results seem, yet again, fairly reasonable. There were, alas, some unfortunate omissions from the poll, including David Miller, Jean Hampton, and Gregory Kavka. And recall that among living political philosophers, only those over age 60 were included. (Some that did poorly in earlier iterations of these polls were not included.)