146 Final - Political Theories

Question 1

David Hume

Answer 1

Enlightenment philosopher whom believed there was no natural right to property but instead all rights of property are grounded in the laws of a just society. His theory of justice is a utilitarian theory. His main argument :
1. Justice is suspended or irrelevant in extreme circumstances, and applies only in cases of moderate scarcity and motivational realism
2. Justice applies only WHEN it promotes social utility
3. The best explanation for that is justice applies only BECAUSE it promotes social utility

Question 2

John Locke

Answer 2

Philosopher that believed property rights were natural. Property is the fruit of one’s labor because on worked for it.
State of nature:
- No government, Law of nature, Everyone may enforce it, Heads to state in it now, An idealization a thought experiment, Social contract theory ( all of this??), Glorious Revolution (1688-89), Why consent to be governed?, Need police for enforcement, Need settled law, Right to revolution

Question 3

The Circumstances of Justice

Answer 3

Not recited in conditions of abundance , Suspended under conditions of extreme necessity

Question 4

Hume’s Theory of Property Rights

Answer 4

Property rights emerge from their benefit to society, “ public utility is the sole origin of justice, and that reflections on the beneficial consequences of this virtue are the sole foundation of its merit” … Great levels of poverty ?

Question 5

The Diminishing Marginal Utility of Money

Answer 5

As more money is queried by an individual or group, each additional dollar acquired becomes less valuable

Question 6

The State of Nature

Answer 6

No government

Question 7

The Law of Nature

Answer 7

“All men must be restrained from invading other rights, and from doing hurt to another, and the law of nature be observed,…”

Question 8

The Social Contract

Answer 8

Creates obligations to obey collective decisions

Question 9

The Lockean Proviso

Answer 9

You must leave as much and as good for others … Objection : Arbitrariness (Minerals under farm)

Question 10

Hume’s Argument From The Circumstances of Justice

Answer 10

Property rights do not emerge in states of extreme abundance

Question 11

Hume’s Critique of Equality of Results

Answer 11

Leads to extreme indigence

Question 12

North vs. South Korea to argue Property Rights

Answer 12

If everyone has equal property, extreme indigence would be produced in the whole community.
Both North Korea and South Korea were leveled by the war. South Korea adopted liberal democracy. North Korea adopted communism, without private property rights. South Korea now has a flourishing democracy and large militaries.

Question 13

The incentive Argument

Answer 13

We should have private property because it gives people an incentive to work harder

Question 14

Locke’s Main Argument for Private Property

Answer 14

All natural products of earth start out as common property

Question 15

Karl Marx

Answer 15

Capitalism means a system of private ownership of the means of production

Question 16

The Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie

Answer 16

” Struggle between classes - in the modern era, between capitalist or bourgeois class and the class of works or proletarians “

Question 17

The Immiseration of the Proletariat

Answer 17

Marxian idea in which the nature of capitalist production results in a worse standard of living for the proletariat class

Question 18

Engels’ Pause (c. 1800 - 1840)

Answer 18

Increasing output per worker, Increasing profits, No Change in wages

Question 19

The Marxian Principle of Distribution

Answer 19

Everyone works according to their ability, and they receive whatever they need

Question 20

Sundara’s Definitions of Capitalism

Answer 20

Any system in which you must take part in markets to survive, social democracy - Some spheres of life are un commodified by simple, generous, universal programs and socialism

Question 21

Marx’s Argument for Inevitability of Revolution

Answer 21

• Numbers of bourgeoise shrink
• Numbers of proletarians grow
• Immiseration
• Can not be performed because the government is working for the capitalists
• “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common
  affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.”

Question 22

The 20th Century Motor Company

Answer 22

Tries to implement the Marxian principle of distribution

Question 23

Rand’s Critique of the Marxian Principle of Distribution

Answer 23

Principle asks too much of us (unlimited labor for the need of others)

Question 24

Sundara’s Argument For Transitioning From Social Democracy to Socialism

Answer 24

Some major aspects of life have been removed from the market bc of common resource
- Competition leads to poor treatment of workers
- Unequal pay for women
- Asymmetry b/w workers and employers

Question 25

Edmund Burke

Answer 25

Supports Gradual Change :
- Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
- He thinks: Harm Principle in the economic sphere
- We have a right to restraint on our sinful passions

Question 26

Thomas Paine

Answer 26

Spreading radical revolution … Nobody has a right to more money just because of who their parents are.

Question 27

Burke’s Conception of Politics as a Tradition Extending Across Generations

Answer 27

Political tradition as a shared effort across generations as a cooperation between the present and the past

Question 28

Gratitude as a Political Virtue

Answer 28

Since we receive benefits from the state, such as public roads, police, courts, the state should be regarded as our benefactor. We all have a general duty of gratitude not to act in ways that are contrary to our benefactors’s interests.

Question 29

Burke’s Criticisms of Revolutionaries as Political Actors

Answer 29

Bad Citizens who actually want policies of guilt to fail

Question 30

Paine’s Argument for Democratic Revolutions

Answer 30

Writes “ Common Sense” , “American Crisis” … Believes all people are born free and equal with natural rights … “All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny.”

Question 31

Burke’s Argument from limited knowledge for gradual reform

Answer 31

You can’t look at an economy from the outside and figure out why it works … not broke don’t fix. Instead gradually and cautiously fix them.

Question 32

Burke’s argument that the French Revolution would lead to a military dictatorship

Answer 32

While trying to gain and keep power, the French revolutionaries use methods that have worked in the past.

Question 33

John Rawls

Answer 33

• “Rawls’ social contract is hypothetical rather than historical: correct principles of justice are ones that would be chosen in a fair position of equality.”
• John Rawls is the author of A Theory of Justice, a world renowned book that gave new life to the social-contract tradition. He focuses on how society’s basic structure affects justice through government and law. Rawls makes sure to stray away from the interpretation that justice is diverse from an individual’s actions, due to the belief that this proposes positions of inequality.

Question 34

The Original Position

Answer 34

a hypothetical first position that we adopt in order to reason about the most fair and rational principles structuring society

Question 35

The Veil of Ignorance

Answer 35

Hypothetical situation in which participants forget everything about themselves (forget race. sex, economic status, abilities, everything). This helps determine if our society is set up in a justified manner without any bias.

Question 36

Reflective Equilibrium

Answer 36

creating coherence and consistency between a set of beliefs, theories and reality

Question 37

The 2 Principles of Justice

Answer 37

1. Equal basic liberties - everyone has the same rights as everyone else →Rawls says everyone should have private property, and no one should have control over the means of production
2. Economic - Inequalities that are: to everyone’s advantage, attached to positions open to all

Question 38

The Baseline of Equality

Answer 38

Equality is strictly set to the baseline unless inequality will everyones situation especially that of the worse off

Question 39

Formal equality of opportunity

Answer 39

The absence of rules or laws that bar people from their basic identity ex. “Women cannot be doctors”

Question 40

Fair Equality of opportunity

Answer 40

Rawls says two people should have an equal shot at opportunities regardless of what type of family status they were born into

Question 41

Rawls’ definition of injustice

Answer 41

Inequalities not arranged for the benefit of everyone; a consequence of the imperfection and so a theory must take care of it. Injustice could be defined as a depart from justice, i.e. from the two principles of justice: 1. each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others; 2. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both (a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged and (b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity

Question 42

The difference principle

Answer 42

Make inequalities benefit everyone, choose the one that benefits the worst off group the most

Question 43

Rawls’ critique of pre institutional desert

Answer 43

If someone X has certain advantages because of G, and X didn’t do anything to deserve G, then X doesn’t (pre-institutionally) deserve those advantages.

Question 44

The Pareto argument for inequality

Answer 44

Pareto improvement makes someone better off and no one worse off
stuff
- Improvement of less privilege group
- Fair equality of opportunity- only your talents can predict how well ur likely to do in life, they should have an equal chance at success
- Our society is very far from that
- You can justify to someone who works as a janitor why the doctor makes more money than him bc when he needs help it will benefit him
- Rawls think we should only allow inequalities if it benefits everyone in society
- DIFFERENCE PRICIPLE
- Start thinking from a place where everyone has the same amount of stuff

Question 45

Robert Nozick

Answer 45

He believes individuals should lead the life they wish for themselves, free from the coercion of society … Negative Rights

Question 46

Libertarianism

Answer 46

Protect Individual Rights

Question 47

Negative Rights

Answer 47

All natural rights are negative rights

Question 48

Positive Rights

Answer 48

Positive rights result from choices

Question 49

Negative Freedom

Answer 49

Has to do with the law and what the law permits

Question 50

Positive Freedom

Answer 50

What can you do? Your abilities, life status

Question 51

Entitlement Theory

Answer 51

You own whatever you mix labor with, which allows you to own things that belong in nature and make them your own property

Question 52

Libertarian conception of equality as equal negative rights

Answer 52

Everyone has the same freedom from interference. Equality is about ensuring everyone is free to act without coercion, not equal outcomes. It emphasizes equal legal protections for all individuals.

Question 53

Historical Principles of Justice

Answer 53

These focus on how things are distributed, emphasizing that past actions or circumstances shape what people deserve. Justice is about the process, not the outcome. What matters is how things came to be distributed.

Question 54

Patterned Principles of Justice

Answer 54

These focus on the end result of distribution, aiming for a specific pattern (e.g., equality or need). Justice is about achieving a fair outcome, regardless of the process. The focus is on how goods are distributed, not how they got there.

Question 55

Nozick’s critique of the baseline of equality

Answer 55

Nozick argues that property rights are morally significant because they stem from individuals’ labor and rightful ownership, provided no injustice (e.g., corruption or theft) occurred in acquiring them. He critiques patterned principles, like Rawls’ view, for ignoring the right to freely transfer property, asserting that forcing wealth redistribution treats individuals as mere means to others’ ends.

Question 56

Nozick’s argument against socialism

Answer 56

Nozick critiques socialism for suppressing individual freedoms by forbidding capitalist acts, such as converting personal property into capital goods for voluntary exchange. He contrasts historical principles of justice, which emphasize the fairness of acquisition and transfer processes, with patterned principles that focus solely on equal outcomes, arguing that true freedom lies in individuals’ ability to make and exchange what they own.

Question 57

Nozick’s appeal to the Formula of Humanity

Answer 57

Formula of Humanity cant use the rich as mere means to help the poor

Question 58

Wilt Chamberlain argument

Answer 58

Illustrates how voluntary exchanges disrupt patterned distributions, as individuals freely choose to allocate their resources. He argues that taxing labor earnings resembles forced labor, as it compels individuals to work for others’ benefit, undermining their liberty to use or transfer their own resources.

Question 59

Nozick’s objection against fair equality of opportunity

Answer 59

This would involve too much intervention by the government…taking away rights and freedoms. Instead he advocates for libertarianism.

Question 60

Rawls’ critique of Nozick : The alcoholic father

Answer 60

Rawls critiques Nozick by arguing that while individuals should face the consequences of their choices, the resulting inequalities, such as children of irresponsible parents being forced into desperate conditions, can perpetuate systemic disadvantage. For Rawls, inequalities are unjust unless they benefit everyone, emphasizing that unregulated inequalities often lead to exploitation and harm to the most vulnerable over time

Question 61

Collective property

Answer 61

Belongs to the people of the US, the government, or lower level of government like state/county

Question 62

Common property

Answer 62

Where everyone is allowed to go when they feel like it

Question 63

Housing vouchers

Answer 63

Receive Housing assistance … Housing vouchers exist, but only 1⁄3 of poor families

Question 64

Rent control

Answer 64

Mumbai’s population of 18.4 million faces housing shortages due to restrictive regulations that hinder construction, leading landlords to neglect maintenance. Despite the shortage, 15% of housing remains vacant, while delays and rising financing costs result in a focus on luxury developments, worsening accessibility for average residents.

Question 65

Economies of agglomeration

Answer 65

The economic benefit of people living together in big cities.

Question 66

Why homeowners would be likely to support strict local building regulations

Answer 66

Homeowners support strict building regulations to protect property values and limit competition, keeping housing scarce and prices high.

Question 67

Waldron’s argument that the homeless lack negative freedom

Answer 67

Waldron argues that homelessness deprives people of negative freedom because they lack a place to perform basic actions like sleeping or cooking, which are prohibited in public spaces. This critique targets libertarians, highlighting how homelessness undermines their core value of freedom, as the homeless are effectively denied the liberty to exist anywhere.

Question 68

Possible advantages of housing vouchers

Answer 68

Tenants pay 30% of their income for rent, voucher pays the rest … Basic, decent housing … No discrimination against voucher holders … Checks directly to landlords

Question 69

Tabarrok’s case against rent control

Answer 69

Tabarrok argues that rent control in Mumbai, with its population of 18.4 million, creates housing shortages by discouraging construction and leading landlords to neglect maintenance. Despite the shortage, 15% of housing remains vacant, and delays drive up financing costs, resulting in a focus on luxury developments over affordable housing.

Question 70

Negative consequences of zoning and other building regulations

Answer 70

Zoning leads to defacto residential segregation