Justice

borrowed from Michael Sandel’s discussion guide

We study Justice in order to understand why people believe what they believe.

Utilitarian Concepts of Justice

1) Torture, as a matter of principle, is always

morally wrong.

True or false?

2) The right action is the one that helps the most

and hurts the least.

True or false?

3) It is always, and everywhere, wrong to

cause another person's death - assuming they

wish to stay alive - if this outcome is avoidable.

True or false?

4: If you can save the lives of innocent people without

reducing the sum total of human happiness, and

without putting your own life at risk, you are morally

obliged to do so.

True or false?

A moral philosophy which states that a particular action

is moral if it results in the greatest UTILITY for the

greatest number compared to the alternatives.

Utilitarianism

Number who

Experience Pleasure

What is Utility?

Number who

Experience Suffering

—

Jeremy Bentham

Number who

Experience Pleasure

What is Utility?

Number who

Experience Suffering

—

John Stuart Mill

What is Utility?

Reduction in total

Suffering

Negative

Consequentialist Ethics

A moral philosophy which states that a particular action

is moral if it results in the greatest utility for the greatest

number compared to the alternatives.

Suppose ten thousand innocent civilians live next to a munitions factory in a country at war. If you

bomb the factory, all of them will die. If you don’t bomb the factory, it will

be used to produce bombs that will be dropped on fifty thousand innocent civilians in another country. What’s

the right thing to do? Does utilitarianism get the right answer?

Suppose a man has planted a bomb in New York City, and it will

explode in twenty-four hours unless the police are able to find it. Should it be legal for the police to use torture to extract information from the suspected bomber? Does

utilitarianism get the right answer?

When is utilitarianism correct and when is it not? Why? Can

something be for the “greater good” and still be wrong?

`Kantian concepts of Justice

Immanuel Kant

`

Imagine a storekeeper who could cheat a young child who comes to her shop but decides not to because she’s worried her customers find out.

Is she acting morally?

`

Imagine a teacher who loves helping children because it makes him

feel good.

Is he acting morally?

`

Suppose someone rescues a child from

drowning because he wants a reward.

Is he acting morally?

`

What should we consider as a law of morality?

The Categorical Imperative--

"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time,

will that it should become a universal law.

`

Deontological Ethics

A moral philosophy that holds that people have a

duty to follow all moral principles derived by

human reason.

`

What about freedom and its connection to justice?

•Is a person who is addicted to cigarettes free? •Is a person who eats a boatload of pistachio ice cream free ? •If the government tries to stop people from buying large sodas are they restricting freedom?

`Libertarian concepts of Justice

`

A moral philosophy that states that liberty is the highest good and

all actions should attempt to maximize it for the greatest

number of people.

Libertarianism

`

Is taxation for redistribution forced labor?

Imagine you are Bill Gates and you are taxed for two hours and the money is given to a poor person. Are you now

being forced--against your will--to work for that person? Does this make you a

temporary slave?

`

Does taxation for redistribution violate historical definitions of justice?

Imagine you worked very hard becoming a heart surgeon. Now, you

make a lot of money saving lives. Should the government have the right

to take your money and give it to someone else who watches TV all day?

`

Under what conditions does a government have the right to take money

from you and give it to someone else? What situations don’t qualify.

• If you got the money illegally • If the other person needed it to survive • If the government wanted to make society more equal• If enough people voted to take it from you. • If the government were going to war and needed it to buy weapons

`Liberal concepts of Justice

`

Imagine the veil of ignorance:

Choose any Society but you will be

randomly placed within it.

John Rawls

`

1st principle:

Everyone should have the same rights

and liberties.

`

2nd principle:

There should be equality of

opportunity.

`

3rd principle:

There should be no differences in income and wealth, except those differences that make even the least advantaged members of

society better off.

`

Should the children of rich parents be allowed to get very expensive, private math lessons, or singing

lessons, or basketball lessons? What if such lessons give them a huge,

unearned advantage in the race for jobs, careers, and wealth? Is it just

for poor children to have much lower prospects as a result?

`

1. Is it true that you can’t really claim credit for your upbringing? Surely, your habits and temperaments today are partly the result of your upbringing. Does this mean that you don’t really deserve what you get from making an effort?

2. Think of some of the advantages that you have in your life. Do you deserve them more than other people who lack them? If so, why? If not, should these advantages be provided to everyone?

`

3. Do you think it’s unjust if some people do not get to vote in elections merely because they are a woman or merely because of the color of their skin?

4. Do you think it’s unjust if some people earn much less money and are much worse off than others merely because they are a woman or a member of a racial or ethnic minority?

`

5. If you answered “yes” to the last two questions, do you think it’s also unjust if some people are much worse off than others merely because they were born with fewer talents or with a debilitating disease and the need for expensive medicines? Why should people be worse off merely because of the way they were born?

`

Liberalism

Among other things, a moral philosophy that

holds equality as the highest good.

`Conservative concepts of Justice

`

Canons of Conservatism

1. "Belief in a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which rules society as well as conscience.”

2. "Affection for the proliferating variety and mystery of human existence, as opposed to the narrowing uniformity, egalitarianism, and utilitarian aims of most radical systems;”

3. "Conviction that civilized society requires orders and classes, as against the notion of a 'classless society'."

`

Canons of Conservatism

4. "Persuasion that freedom and property are closely linked"

5. “…Distrust of 'sophisters, calculators, and economists' who would reconstruct society upon abstract designs."

6. "Recognition that change may not be salutary reform: hasty innovation may be a devouring conflagration, rather than a torch of progress."

`

…or

Among other things, a moral philosophy that holds actions are moral if they conform to legal, traditional or religious laws.

Conservatism

What would all 5 philosophies

say about these scenarios?

TEST CASES

The Mayor wants to levy a tax on the rich to pay for smaller class sizes in Kindergarten.

TEST CASES

Shorewood High School wants to ban all Honors and AP classes.

TEST CASES

A mother wants to have a new child to provide bone marrow for another child who is sick.

TEST CASES

Mr. Dunbar wants to require all students to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance

TEST CASES

Batman wants to kill the Joker to stop him from destroying Gotham.

TEST CASES