Week 4 Justice Flashcards
Inequality
a situation in which there is a lack of equality
Inequity
a lack of fairness
Fairness
the quality of being morally or ethically fair
Fair
that happens according to what is considered to be right, just, etc
Just
fair and morally good
Social
Contract
The social contract is a theoretical
concept that represents the
agreement or implicit contract among
individuals to come together and form
a society.
This contract typically involves
individuals surrendering some of their
natural freedoms and agreeing to
abide by certain rules, laws, and
norms in exchange for the benefits
and protection provided by society
and its governing institutions.
According to Rawls, society is torn
between
a conflict of interest
as peoples are
not indifferent as to how the greater
benefits produced by their
collaboration are distributed)
and
social cooperation that would make
possible a better life for all than any
would have if each were to live
solely by his own efforts.
John Rawls
“Justice is the first virtue of social
institutions, as truth is to systems of
thought.
A theory however elegant and
economical must be rejected or
revised if it is untrue; likewise laws
and institutions no matter how
efficient and well-arranged must be
reformed if they are unjust.”
* The Kantian commitment: each
individual is a member of the
kingdom of ends
* Rawls’ theory is intended as a
corrective to the possibility that
utilitarianism will fail to honor
the moral distinctiveness of
individuals
* For Rawls, the right is defined
prior to the good
* We must see Justice as fairness,
by abiding to Social contract
theory
Rawls’
Social Contract
- Links up moral choice (consent)
and rational choice: - the original position and the veil of
ignorance as a way to avoid the
principles of justice being infected
by self-interest. - Hypothetical contract that
identifies the most basic
principles of justice. - Such a contractarian approach
could also be (and has been) used
to justify utilitarianism.
Rawls’
Original Position
*the original position is one where people of equal liberty choose basic principles to guide political decisions
*For Rawls this corresponds to the state of nature in the traditional theory of social contract
*The choice is made by people behind a veil of ignorance about their assets, capabilities, gender etc.
* Under the “veil of ignorance”, people
wouldn’t know the characteristics of
their society, except that it is in “the
circumstances of justice”
* The scenario is designed to illustrate
what principles an unbiased person
would choose, and is a powerful tool for
discounting partial, possibly
unconscious, assumptions.
* For Rawls, those choices are made
through rational choice
* rather then being based on altruism
* People rationally value certain
primary goods:
* rights, liberties, opportunities, income, wealth, selfrespect
* Rawls’ rational choice is rather riskaverse He thinks that people’s
aversion to risk will make them
desire to secure their fundamental
interests is within the normal range
First
Principle = Liberty Principle
- Each person is to have an
equal right to the most
extensive total system of
equal basic liberties
compatible with a similar
system of liberty for all
Second Principle = difference principle and fair equality of opportunity principle
difference principle = to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged (the difference principle)
fair equality of opportunity principle = offices and positions are open to all
under conditions of fair equality of
opportunity
Wheel of power/privilege
The Wheel illustrate how different social
categories and identities intersect to create
systems of power and privilege or
marginalization and oppression.
Wheel of power/privilege -
- The “Power” section of the wheel
represents groups that typically enjoy a
fuller range of liberties and rights, while
the “Marginalized” section includes those
whose basic liberties are more likely to be
compromised or limited. - Rawls would argue that the disparities
illustrated in the wheel should be
addressed to ensure that all individuals,
regardless of their position on the wheel,
have equal basic liberties. - The wheel highlights the need to protect
the freedoms of marginalized groups to
ensure they have the same extensive basic
liberties as those in positions of power.
Wheel of power/privilege - The Difference Principle:
- The Wheel’s “Marginalized” segments
identify groups that Rawls would consider
the “least advantaged,” whose
socioeconomic position should be
improved as a matter of justice. - The privileges enjoyed by the “Power”
section indicate inequalities that would
need to be arranged to benefit the least
advantaged, as per Rawls’ theory. - In Rawlsian terms, the wheel can be used
to identify and prioritize social and
economic policies that would help level the
playing field, providing fair opportunities
and benefits for those in the
“Marginalized” section.
Priority
Order
- Liberty Principle (1)
- Fair Equality of
Opportunity
Principle, (2b) - Difference Principle
(2a)
Ensuring that justice is realized within a
society is the role of _________ ______________ to
narrow the gaps between individuals,
ensure that the less well off can benefit
from societal gains, and ensure that
principles are fundamental to the
structure of society.
social institutions
An important dimension for Rawls is
_________________ __________; another
shortcoming of utilitarianism, where the
calculus is often limited to living people.
intergenerational justice
Rawls’ Theory Focus
- Does not focus on:
- Foreseeable results of an action
- Right or Wrong principles motivating
action - Virtues of character
- Focuses on social institution within
which actions and policies are
determined.
Rawls’ position has been criticized
because
the result of this (according to
Rawls) wouldn’t be extremely different
than our society.
Egalitarianism
a tempting
avenue. That is, to give
everyone the same thing!
* But there are concerns to
egalitarian views. * i.e., we prefer a world in which
goods
– powers, liberties,
opportunities, wealth, health
–
are more equally distributed to
one in which they are not.
* At least to some extent, we are
willing to forego delivering a
greater benefit to someone who
is already better off in order to
deliver a lesser benefit to
someone who is worse off
According to Daniels, 1990:
* Rawls intends it only to
capture the well-being of
people insofar as they are
thought of as
- citizens who share an interest in
cooperation for mutual
advantage - in a well-ordered, pluralist
society, - who function normally over a
complete life, and who are
“free” and “equal.”
Metrics of
Justice
Since we are living in a pluralist society, that entails
we will have to find trade-offs to the egalitarian view.
- According to Daniels, there
are three kinds of metrics
that can help found justice:
- Resources:
- how society distributes
resources - Capabilities:
- How society considers/fosters/
active dimensions of human life - Welfare:
- How welfare (e.g., a subjective
mental state of pleasure) is
distributed
Resources
- Resourcist metrics judge the justice of a society by looking at how it distributes
resources.
Capabilities
look at the distribution of capabilities, which are freedoms to engage in various
activities
Welfare
- Welfarist accounts assess justice by examining the distribution of welfare
- But we may face Hume’s “Is-Ought Fallacy”
*many economists. Welfarist public health metrics include quality-adjusted and
disability-adjusted life years (QALYs and DALYs), which are typically generated via
Distributive Principles
Noncorrelative
principles do
not try to
correlate how
much each
individual
receives with
other facts
about that
individual,
whereas
correlative
principles do
Noncorrelative
(1) Maximization
(2) Prioritarianism
(3) Egalitarianism
(4) Sufficientarianism
Correlative
(5) Contribution
(6) Effort
(7) Tradition
MAXIMIZE
WELFARE
maximum good to the
greatest number of
people (Sandel)
- Often equated with economic prosperity, but it also includes other
non-economic aspects of social well-being. - Includes various aspects of utilitarianism (“greatest happiness for
the greatest number”), which constitutes the most influential
account of how and why we should maximize welfare. - Closely related to arguments for a free market (way for providing
incentives for people to work hard, supplying the goods/services
that other people want).
RESPECT FREEDOM
respect for individual
freedom (Sandel)
- This aligns with letting everyone exercise their choice in terms of
what value they are willing to assign to what resource/service and
how they want to participate to society.
PROMOTE VIRTUE
feeling one feels on
witnessing/seeing
injustices (Sandel)
- Judgment that greed is a vice that the society should discourage.
- But who is to judge what is virtue and what is vice?
- Don’t citizens of pluralist societies disagree about such things? And
isn’t it dangerous to impose judgments about virtue through law? - Many people hold that government should be neutral on matters of
virtue and vice; it should not try to cultivate good attitudes or
discourage bad ones.
