Ch 8 - Justice

From Plato to Rawls

Plato’s Account of Justice

• Conventional View: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies

• Cynical View: Might Makes Right• Plato’s View: Harmony, internal and external –

inner harmony of faculties of the soul; outer harmony of social classes.

John Rawls: Distributive Justice

• Egalitarianism: treat everyone as fairly as possible.

• The Original Position: A Thought Experiment: act rationally to bring about best interests of the people

• Social Contract• Veil of Ignorance: pretend ignorance of your

gender, race, ethnicity, age, income, locality. Divide benefits to level playing field.

Rawls’s Principles

• The Difference Principle:1. Social and economic inequalities are to be

attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity

2. They are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society.

Non-Rawlsian theoris of Distributive Justice

Distribution of Scarce Goods – example of organ transplant1. Rawlsian approach: go to the medically most

needy and likeliest to succeed.2. Egalitarian approach: have a lottery3. Welfare or utilitarian approach: those most

likely to have a long life should get the kidney4. Libertarian or market-based: give it to the

highest bidder

Justice and the Politics of Difference

Iris Marion Young’s Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990)Views justice in terms of overcoming oppression and domination.Exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperiealism, and violence.Civil Rights Movement, feminism and other political movements.

Justice and the Capabilities Approach: Sen and Nussbaum

• Amartya Sen: connection of poverty, freedom and justice. Stay close to the ground and look for ways of making things better. Not Rawls’s origianl position where specific cultural heritages are banished but with the concrete and how to improve it.

• Martha Nussbaum: capabilities approach: life, bodily health, bodily integrity, freedom of travel, bodily safety, forms of affiliation, play, imagination and concern for other species.

Criminal Justice

• Retributive Justice: lex talionis, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Inflicting such punishment can itself be debasing or simply impossible.

• Compensatory Justice: proportional compensation to the victim

• Restorative Justice: set the record straight about what happened during oppression.

• Justice as Hozho: Navajo notion of harmony through ceremonial restoration of relationships.

• Global Justice: either just solutions to global problems or global conception of justice cutting across national, regional and cultural boundaries.

The Just War Tradition• Jus ad bellum: the just conditions for entering into a war1. Just cause2. Right intention3. Publicly declared by a lawful authority4. Last resort5. Probability of success• Jus in bello: the just conduct of war1. Discriminate between combatants and civilians2. Principle of proportionality3. Use no means that are evil in themselves• Jus post Bellum: A Just Peace1. Just cause for termination2. Right intention3. Public declaration and legitimate authority4. Discrimination5. proportionality

Environmental Justice

• Famine and atmospheric and water pollution transcend national boundaries. Small developing countries may feel the effects of large highly industrialized countries directly through pollution, reduced air and water quality as well as sea level rise from global warming. They may experience the polluting effects of of foreign owned industry.

• Spread of disease in an era of international travel.• Is it fair for some nations and their populations to suffer

harmful consequences of actions taken by other nations with knowing disregard of their negative consequences.

Economic Exploitation

• Manufacturing processses cross natinal boundaries. Labor is cheaper and environmental and safety restrictions more lax, natural resources more easily and cheaply available in developing countries.

• How achieve economic justice in a world of radical economic disparities?

Fundamental Character of Justice

• Justice is a fundamental moral concept.• What is the meaning of justice• How do we make the world a just place?• Justice is the foundation of a lasting world

peace.