Stephen Kershnar, Desert and Virtue: A Theory of Intrinsic Value (Critical Essay‪)‬

Stephen Kershnar, Desert and Virtue: A Theory of Intrinsic Value (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), xiii + 151 pp. Desert claims are claims of natural (noninstitutional or preinstitutional) justice. Most ordinary people--at least those who have not had a surfeit of liberalist political philosophy--consider such claims to have moral force. More importantly, perhaps, regardless of the presence or absence of intellectually held beliefs, most of us experience an array of desert-based emotions: painful or pleasant feelings about the deserved or undeserved fortunes or misfortunes of ourselves and others.