Defining justice involves an in depth look at what we as individuals and a collective society value. Michael Sandel’s book Justice: What’s the right thing to do? does not attempt to answer these questions for us but rather implores us to look inside ourselves for the answers. This is accomplished by challenging the reader with cases, some hypothetical, and some real, in which the moral basis can be debated from different angles.…
Conceptions of justice can be broken down into two separate classifications. Firstly, there is the idealistic conception of justice and secondly the realistic conception of justice. The idealistic side of conceptions focuses on an expectation of fairness and a desire for a universal level of fairness whereas, the realistic conception focuses on the acceptance of chance and fate and the reality of risk and consequence.…
As a starting premise, Rawls lays out two principles of justice. The first is that “each person is to have equal rights to the most extensive basic liberties compatible with similar liberties for others” . This principle is essentially absolute, and may not be violated even for the sake of the second principle. Rawls’ second principle of justice is that “social and economic inequalities are to be arranged such that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone’s advantage and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all”1. Thus, it follows that injustices are inequalities that are not to the advantage of all. Interpretations of this second principle, and particularly of the phrase “to everyone’s advantage” is the basis of different system of equality.…
In what follows, I will attempt to portray the philosophy of John Rawls with regard to the theory of societal justice. My aim is convey Rawls’ conception of justice. I will discuss his original position of equality and how the essential veil of ignorance collaborates with the original position to arrive at a societal ground zero. I will also address the two principles that Rawls believe would emerge from the original position to guide a just society.…
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”- Mother Teresa (Quotes About Humanity, n.d.) Peace, serenity, and security is what all of us human aim to achieve, but we must not forget the rules, ethics that we need to obey to help us maintain a healthy society. The other day, I discovered that a priest in my town was offering a mother with her one child some assistance with hiding from the powers after she entered the country illegally. This act has left me torn and confused about what I should do whether I should report his act or not.…
What is fairness? Most of us would agree it involves issues of equality, impartially, proportionally,…
John Rawls, using Kantian rationality, discusses ways to determine principles of social justice. He begins by making a clear distinction as to what defines the social justice used in his argument – “the way in which the major social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation”. Rawls then continues to introduce concepts such as the original position which pertains to the thought experiment he calls the veil of ignorance – the original position is a hypothetical state where members of society decide what the principles of justice are. To find the original position, the members must use the veil of ignorance in the sense of having ignorance toward class, intelligence, strength, and things alike, in order to prevent bias and in turn create a fair choice. With this in mind, Rawls sets forth to disprove utilitarianism within justice. He claims that utilitarianism is unjust for it does not respect the rights and liberties of all individuals - if slavery was beneficial to the majority, using utilitarianism logic, some would claim it is just. Rawls argues for the equality of rights; inequalities are justified only if they benefit the society as a whole. He makes a key distinction between the benefit of the majority, and the advantage of all.…
During the presidential elections many issues arise, one of which is income inequality. The idea of economic reality and how people earn, use and distribute their property is the basic starting point for understanding the nature of inequality in society. The debate arises on what gives a person right to property, and whether or not the government has the right to redistribute property from those more wealthy in order to create equality for those who have less. Of course, people can and will differ on whether any of this constitutes a “fair” tax system. Depending on one’s politics and personal situations, some would are for a more social economic structure, and others for a libertarian one. Finding the right balance has become quite the controversy.…
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that distributes benefits and burdens in a society based on the goal of maximizing utility, defined as the satisfaction of desire. John Rawls has developed a competing moral theory called Justice as Fairness, which yields significantly different insights into the proper structure of society than does Utilitarianism. This paper details three of Rawls's most convincing criticisms of Utilitarianism along with my comments as to the effectiveness of each argument. The criticisms include: • • How Utilitarianism views the distribution of resources in a society, How the distinction between persons is treated, and…
On the one hand, fixed punishment will have a deterring effect on society. ‖Individuals knowing that they will be subject to a certain punishment if they are convicted with a given crime will reconsider committing this act in the first place. ‖This deterring effect also leads to social stability and security, through minimizing the number of crimes committed. ‖If people knew they would be able to convince the court or the jury of reason for having committed the crime they are accused of, penal decisions would be largely arbitrary. This would result into criminals getting away with their crimes and into a high level of injustice caused by the subjective approach of different courts。…
Justice in society enforces individual's rights and to deny that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others". When the notion of justice becomes shared by all citizens, and equality is achieved, civility between members of society will restrict the use of some individuals as means to personal ends. Overall, Rawls argues that the most distinctive role of justice in society is to equally distribute rights and duties to individuals.…
John Rawls introduced a “theory of distributive justice that would be universal, would respect all persons, and be rationally acceptable to all” (DeGeorge, 77). In order to see justice more clearly, an objective approach needs to be taken. In order to ensure that there is no bias in our thought process, Rawls suggests we ‘imagine all people from a veil of ignorance” (DeGeorge, 77). We would ignore any cultural or societal differences that divide us, and make decisions based on what is morally right for all of us. We would make our decisions by looking at life through perspectives that were not cluttered with our own preconceptions. We would rationally make decisions by putting ourselves in others shoes to ensure that the result would be fair. The keys to the theory are “each person is to have equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with similar…
There are many laws punishing unfair and discriminatory behaviour. There are, also, social and economic benefits of equal treatment.…
“the observance of treaties; respect for the freedom and equality of all peoples and for human rights; the “duty of nonintervention” and a prohibition on war other than for self-defense; and the “duty to assist other peoples living under unfavorable conditions that prevent their having a just or decent political and social regime.” These principles are the outcome of the second original position among “parties who chose the veil of ignorance that impedes them from knowing their population size and strength of people whom they represent.”…
Rawls, J. (1971) A theory of justice The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. USA…