freedom and justice Flashcards
Negative and positive freedom
John locke argues for negative freedoms
Jean-Jacques Rousseau argues for positive freedom
Isaiah Berlin (1909-97)
Negative liberty or “freedom from”
Positive liberty or “freedom to”
Mill, Utilitarianism, and freedom
John Stuart Mill in On Liberty (1859) argues that greater freedom leads to greater happiness
Maximum possible freedom for the expression of ideas (even obviously false ones)
The Welfare State
Establishes a minimal level of social and economic protection for all people within its territory
Goal of reducing the number of people experiencing poverty, illness, and homelessness, but also as a support for democracy
Justice
How should resources be distributed? What are people entitled to?
Procedural Justice: fairness of the process through which an outcome is reached
Social or distributive Justice: fairness of the outcome itself
Needs-Based Justice
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”
Also present in the welfare systems of liberal democratic states
Merit Based Justice
Meritocratic Theory of Justice: distributes social goods according to merit for the overall benefit of society
Calls for an equality of opportunity and elimination of structural disadvantages: “if rewards depend on merit, the playing field must be levelled”
John Rawls
“Orignal Position”: individuals choose what their future society will look like
Decision are made from behind a “veil of ignorance”
Assumes self-interested individuals who also desire “primary goods” such as wealth, good health, education, etc.
Rawl’s Two Principles of Justice
Rawl’s Two Principles of Justice
We have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with similar system of liberty for all.
Social and economic inequalities arranged so that they are both
To the greatest benefit of the least advantaged…. And
Attached to the office and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity
Liberty principle (1) has priority over the difference principle (2)
Critiques of Rawls
Robert paul Wolff: liberty can and should be restricted were doing so will ensure a basic standard of living for all
Robert Nozick: one is entitled to ones property so long as it was acquired fairly, therefore redistribution (even through taxation) is unjust
Cosmopolitan Theories of Justice
Increasing interconnectedness of people around the world calls for an expansion of justice beyond the bounds of the state
Obligation to the whole of humanity to address inequalities between rich and poor states
Communitarianism and justice
Rejects the liberal concept of the free-formed individual
Justice should consider the particular social and cultural character of the society
Rejects universalism of both liberal and cosmopolitan positions
Environmentalism and Justice
Justice not only applicable to human beings
Milder forms incorporate the notion of intergenerational justice which considers future generations
Other forms apply justice to non-human animals, ecosystems or biodiversity, which also have ”rights”
