[vincent-toups]

The presumption you're making is that a country would never spend money for the public good, where that is defined to include the entire human race, rather than just nationals.

Weird assumption! Generally speaking, academic research is considered to be an international, or super-national, cooperative effort in most fields.

[naringas]

> The presumption you're making is that a country would never spend money for the public good

I have just realized that I assume this to be the case. If a government ever does that is simply a collateral effect of their main purpose which is enrichment of the politicans involved in the process.

[anjc]

I don't make this assumption. I simply think OPs argument that research should be open because tax payers have funded it is weak, for the reason I stated, i.e. it implies that non-tax payers should not have access, or conversely, implies that taxpayers in each country should get to decide how this research is distributed, possibly restricting access to non-nationals.

> The presumption you're making is that a country would never spend money for the public good, where that is defined to include the entire human race, rather than just nationals.

I think in general this is the case? Obviously governments budget for foreign aid, and also contribute to collective efforts e.g. climate change or (relevant to this discussion) EU funds such as Horizon 2020. But I don't think any governments do/should consider "the public" as meaning "the entire human race".

[vincent-toups]

I think in the grand tradition of western government going all the way back to the greeks there is ample consideration given to the good as it pertains to the entire human race, not just nationals.

Read Nussbaum's book about cosmopolitanism - the introductory chapters provide plenty of evidence that historically speaking, elites have conceived of governments has having at least some obligation to all human beings, regardless of state.

[travisporter]

1. A->B does not imply !A->!B 2. Government foreign aid is a counterexample

[anjc]

I don't know what's meant to be A and B here. I already listed foreign aid as a counterexample in the post you're replying to.