Justice as Fairness John Rawls

1. Justice as FairnessJohn Rawls PHL 110: ETHICS North Central College

2. Act, Consequence, Virtue and Justice: Review: Why is it wrong to lie? • Utilitarianism: because the (long-term) benefit (utility) for those affected by the lie is less than the cost.

3. Act, Consequence, Virtue and Justice: Review: Why is it wrong to lie? • Kant’s deontology • You can not universalize a rule such as “Always lie when it is to your advantage”; • The rule “I have a right to decide when to tell the truth or lie” treats others as means to your goals, not ends in themselves.

4. Act, Consequence, Virtue and Justice: Review: Why is it wrong to lie? • Virtue ethics: • practice of veracity and honesty as virtues allows persons to discern discretion = the mean between falseness and transparency, relative to persons and situations.

5. Justice and Ethical Norms • Ideas of justice expand the context of wrongs beyond individual interactions to society as a whole: • “Society,” as well as individuals, is said to be wronged by crime when crime is unpunished; • “Society,” as well as individuals - is said to be harmed when tort injuries to individuals or groups are not redressed by law.

6. Types of Justice • Distributive justice: basis for (justification of) pattern of resource distribution in a society; i.e. norms of fairness • Retributive justice: basis for classifying wrongs as crimes, determining guilt, norms of punishment • Resistive justice: compensation for injury: beach of contract, duty; norms of equity

7. Justice as Fairness: John Rawls’ Theory of Justice • Rawls’ theory focuses: • NOT on foreseeable results of an action; • NOT on right or wrong principles motivating the action; • NOT on virtues of character, but • ON SOCIAL INSTUTITONS WITHIN WHICH ACTIONS AND POLICIES ARE DETERMINED

8. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsDefinition and Principles • Justice is: • A virtue of social institutions, measured by fairness in allocating benefits and burdens, defined by two basic principles: • Liberty • Difference

9. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsLiberty • Rawls’ “Liberty Principle” “Each person participating in a practice (or affected by it) has an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with a like liberty for all.”

10. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsDifference • Rawls’ “Difference Principle” Inequalities is goods are arbitrary unless • It is reasonable to expect that they will work to the advantage of the least advantaged; and • The positions and offices to which they attach (or from which they may be gained) are open to all, under conditions of fair competition

11. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsLeast Advantaged • Who are the “least advantaged”? • Those with lowest expectations for/ access to “primary goods” = “what free and equal persons need as citizens”

12. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsBasic Goods • Rawls specifies five kinds of such goods: • Basic rights and liberties (freedom of thought, liberty of conscience) • Freedom of movement, free choice of occupation • Powers and prerogatives of offices & positions of responsibility; • Income and wealth

13. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsBasic Goods • Rawls specifies five kinds of such goods: • Social bases for self-respect – “aspects of basic institutions normally essential if citizens are to have a lively sense of their worth as persons & advance their ends with self-confidence”. • Those who lack access these goods are “least advantaged”

14. Justice as Fairness: John RawlsJustifying Rawls’ Claims • The “original position”: assume a group of • Rational, self-interested individuals • Who know that there will be competition for scarce resources; • But do not know what natural advantages or disadvantages they will possess, or • What value beliefs or preferences will guide them

15. Justice as Fairness: John Rawls • Given these assumptions what principles would these rational, self-interested individuals choose to guide distribution of benefits and burdens in their society? • Rawls claims that persons in this imaginary “original position” would adopt versions of the liberty and difference principles.