Rawls

Question 1

what is distributive justice

Answer 1

justice in the distribution of goods and wealth

Question 2

the original position

Answer 2

a theoretical situation wherein members of a future society gather to discuss and establish the rules and processes for that society

Question 3

veil of ignorance

Answer 3

a feature of the original position which stipulates that the people deciding societies rules have no knowledge of what their position in society will be, and thus are inclined to select rules that will benefit everyone to the greatest extent

Question 4

historical conception of dist. justice

Answer 4

justice is a matter of property acquisition and following the right rules in acquiring property

Question 5

end-state conception of dist. justice

Answer 5

justice is a matter of closeness to a desired pattern

Question 6

Rawls main argument

Answer 6

what is chosen in the original position is just because it is set up in such a way to guarantee a fair outcome, since no one knows their social position no one can unfairly advantage themselves, Rawls two principles of justice would be chosen, therefore Rawls two principles are just

Question 7

first principle

Answer 7

each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible to that of others

Question 8

second principle

Answer 8

difference principle- social and economic inequalities are allowed only to the extent that they benefit the poorest members of society

Question 9

why adopt the first principle

Answer 9

the first principle would be chosen because the parties don’t know what their plans and values will be; therefore it makes sense to secure the most liberty possible, to allow for pursuing whatever goals they will have

Question 10

why adopt the second principle

Answer 10

for very poor people money means a lot, but for the wealthy money has less importance. the parties in the original position would be more afraid of winding up poor than they would be eager to wind up rich. They would want to minimize their risk of ending up badly off, therefore they would chose the system that maximizes the position of the poorest people

Question 11

maximin

Answer 11

look at the worst possible consequence of what an action can be and then chose a path were the outcome is the least bad