Theories of Justice

The res is fundamentally

Deon v Util
Aff v Neg
Saturday, July 16, 2016

Justice: giving to each their due,

Plato
Plato: justice as harmony

The Republic: The proper harmonious relationships between the people and
the city
Everybody has certain responsibilities,
A just man: just the right place doing his best giving the precise equivalent of
what he has received
o
Reciprocity framing of justice
Most basic form of justice-influenced every subsequent ethics
philosopher
Criticisms:
o
Does not determine who assigns the roles and responsibilities
o
If I run a donut shop and I see someone getting mugged, plato holds
that I should NOT take action

Justice as Natural Law

Value is inherent as a natural property, with certain unalienable rights:
deon

John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
System of consequences derive from any action of choice, and bad choices
deserve punishment
Retributive Justice: redistribute harms and goods based on actions and
what is most fair
o
Vs Neoliberalism: you are responsible for the consequences of your
own life-bootstraps

Social Contract Theory: what EVERBYDODY was reading at the founding of

the US

Justice as relativism (for block files-functionally useless

outside)

No normative concept of justice. Justice is instead a constantly

changing theory devised to encourage survival
o
Divine command theory:

Distributive Justice

John Rawls (A Theory of Justice) and Robert Nozick (Anarchy, State,

and Utopia)
Distribution of rights, opportunities, and resources
Different philosophers have different weighing mechanisms
o
Marxism: distribution of rights is less important than that of resources
o
Meritocracy: resources are given out based on merit
o
Need/Social Status
o
Property Rights
Rawls: most important is impartial distribution:
o
Veil of Ignorance: who deserves what and what people should do, we
must consider from behind the veil of ignorance and ignore who we are to
remove implicit biases
o
Scandinavian Social Democracy
Nozick:
o
Libertarianism
o
your body and your time are your property-that's where rights derive
from because your body is the one thing you truly own
o
Just acquisition: using your time is literally you spending your life
o
State: contract mediation, preventing externalities in transactions:
property rights
o
Doesn't care what happens once justice is obtained

Justice as Utilitarianism

Maximization and Equalization for the good of most people

o
Gun Control fits under Utilitarianism vs Deontology
o
Consequentialist
Requires a sacrifice sometimes
John Stewart Mills: libertarian
o
As individuals, we are the only ones who can determine our happiness,
so cutting everyone loose works
o
Welfare maximizing society is the freest one (link into util framework)
o
Cares about the ends

Marxism

Do NOT analyze with bias!

Marxism =/= Socialism =/= Communism

Socialism: using government for positive social change

o
Soft left politics: using the government to protect people, but not
going full force to ensure rights and equality

Ethics: consequentialism, deontological, virtue ethics (plato)

Consequentialism
Consequentialism: the rightness of our actions determine their justness
Utilitarianism

Machiavellian
Rule Util-we formulate the rules our society is based on with empirical rules
o
Freedom of speech is formulated based on rules of which breaking
them is bad (Deon) but is also codified because violating FoS is empirically
bad

Deontological: abridging the dignity

Virtue Ethics: not functional in today's world
Util and Deon are NOT mutually exclusive

Understand how they interact to win FW debates

Anthro K (humans not center):

Ecological Worldview
Consequentialist

Betham and Peter Singer b/c everything living has pain receptors

How to Use this

When using philosophy: always find a more recent interpretation
When reading philosophy: use wikipedia because philosophers are intentionally
esoteric

Cheat sheet for names and ideas because

You can link into opponents framework

Education

Henry Giroux
Ludwig von Mises Institute, Hyacinth, Cato Institute

Addressing Source Bias:

Our authors believe in what they say, I hope yours do too