Week 6 Flashcards
Distributive justice
Society is a system of cooperation for mutual advantage. The central question is how benefits and burdens are to be distributed.
Resources should be given first to those who need it most. Then, each person should be given their due with the goal of maximizing happiness for the most.
Egalitarian justice
Equality of happiness is the ultimate moral ideal. All people deserve equal rights and opportunities for happiness.
Society (especially government) is responsible for furthering and promoting equality.
It is permissible – and perhaps necessary – to restrict individual’s liberty in order to promote social equality.
Tragedy of the Commons
A dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long-term interest for this to happen.
