John Rawls’ Fairness Approach is an appropriate ethical framework to use when assessing this dilemma. This approach questions if everyone involved is being treated fairly (is there favoritism and discrimination?). The Fairness Approach examines how fairly or unfairly the actions of an individual or group distribute benefits and burdens everyone else. With this approach, consistency of treatment among persons is key. The only insistence when treatment must differ is if there is a morally relevant difference between people (Andre, Meyer, Shanks, Velasquez, 1989). There are three different kinds of justice -- Distributive, Restorative, and Compensatory. Distributive justice focuses on the benefits and burdens evenly distributed amongst society’s…
3. True or false? Rawls' view of social justice includes people making choices to protect those who are in a lesser position in society.…
I have always thought myself to be mindful of my country’s socio-political climate and the connotations of each social class, it is something that I am passionate about, but Mr. Bardecki’s mention of John Rawls was my first introduction to the theory of justice as fairness. From the article “John Rawls and the Liberal Theory of Society” this was one of Rawls’ bold, powerful statements that struck me the most: “A just society is a society that if you knew everything about it, you’d be willing to enter it in a random place.” I believe that this concisely states John Rawls’ philosophy of equal rights, opportunity, and promotion of the least advantaged members of society. In the aforementioned quote, Rawls suggests that for a society to be truly fair, there would be no discrimination between the classes. To simplify, you would not care whether you were to be put into the upper class or the lower class of a society because you would have the same opportunities and benefits in both.…
The United States Pledge of Allegiance is an honorable and commendable mantra. It concludes with, “one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” Justice in the former reference is inclusive for everyone, an entitlement, granted upon birth. John Rawls position of justice is that “everyone should be treated equally and as fair as possible”. Mr. Rawls position parallels the Egalitarian theory of equality and mutual respect. This isn’t necessarily the practice because contrary to the hope for multiple factors are factored in to the outcome.…
Citizens go through pain to have the rules carried out, the abilities and knowledge of all human beings is lowered to a state of absurdity, and one of humans’ main natural instincts (survival by competition) is completely, utterly, destroyed. In fact, the entire idea of trying to make all human beings equal in every single possible way, is very inaccurate because although people may not realize it, complete equality, is impossible to achieve. No matter how many beings suffer, no matter how many beings are handicapped, no matter how many times the government tries to get rid of the aspect of competition, full equality will never be attained. Thus, in Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian short story, the laws depicted by the government are flawed. Although equality may grow like a flower, with water and nutrients being supplied by the government’s laws, the flower will never blossom, and there is no doubt to…
Theories of justice are also referred to in the article. These theories utilize concepts by John Rawls which include ideas on how to “create an environment of opportunity and access by all to the most comprehensive range of prospects” (Colin, 2012, p. 444). This theory can lead to a society where individuals are given opportunities to succeed.…
Do you think today's society are hypocrites? Nathaniel Hawthorne's parable "The minister's Black Veil" is a critique of society and human nature. Hawthorne was trying to teach the reader a lesson or a moral. He was trying to teach society his point of view by using in a parable. The parable that Nathaniel Hawthorne's wrote "The minister's Black Veil" was about a minister who randomly started wearing a black veil. All the people around the minister saw him different and started to criticize him and judge him for what he had done, and though he was hiding something. In the scarlet letter Hester was also criticize and judge but she didn't care she dealt with it. The minister was trying to teach a point and get it through everyone's head. In reality he was just trying to show that everyone has their own black veil and that our society is full of hypocrisy. Everyone talks about someone…
This paper aims to compare the ideas of equal opportunities and sports equity with regard to sport in Britain. Within this structure, there will be particular emphasis on the theoretical approaches that are used to look at equality in British sport. A key part of this comparison is the study of (social) equality; this includes formal, radical and liberal interpretations of equality. The arguments and suggestions will be reinforced and supported by literature and other texts outside of just the sporting context.…
John Rawls bases his Theory of Justice on the intuitive conviction that justice as fairness is the first virtue of social institutions. He argues that in order to ensure fair distributions of advantages in society, a workable set of principles are required in order to determine how institutions ought to distribute rights and duties and to establish a clear way to address competing claims to social advantages. The second principle that Rawls develops stipulates that economic and social inequalities are justifiable so long as the requirements of fair equality of opportunity have been met and if they benefit the worst off in society. Rawls argues that the requirement of improving the conditions of the worst off, known as the Difference Principle,…
The author concedes that there are similarities in the right to live and know. The author feels that knowledge and life are both rights and fundamentally they are both desired. Knowledge, to the author is a desirable thing, but it is proven that ignorance is bliss and “a little knowledge” is dangerous.…
A just society should be one that leads to progression and protects an individual's rights and freedoms. In this paper I will take Rawls position that we would create a more just society by creating a minimum standard of living for everyone. One of the main points presented in Nozick’s theory is that redistribution is wrong because it is unjust to steal resources that were justly earned from one person and to give it to someone else. In principle Nozick is correct that redistribution is unjust in the sense that we are taking resources from one person to give to another, however, Nozick’s view doesn’t account for the fact that people aren’t born with equal opportunity so without redistribution it results in a hierarchy that keeps increasing.…
“In theory, we are all equal before the law. In practice, there are overwhelming privileges that people possess.” This quotation was said by Arianna Huffington, an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. In this quotation, Huffington recognizes that the law has flaws and must be altered in order to achieve equality. There are many groups in society who are not adequately represented by the law.…
People always sway the limitations of freedom for personal gain. “The idea that justice means respecting freedom and individual rights” has been tossed about in our courts and communities tirelessly. Part of the basis of the United States is freedom; the bill of rights lists ways in which the government must respect people’s most basic freedoms. Sandel talks about two different camps, the laissez-faire camp and the fairness camp, each arguing for freedoms but in their own way. The laissez-faire camp doesn’t believe in government or community policies, but in each person’s voluntary choices. However, the fairness camp believes “justice requires policies that remedy social and economic disadvantages” which in turn will give everyone a shot. An example of moral judgment and freedom is the first amendment in the Bill of Rights. Everyone is granted the freedom to talk about whatever they please, whether it upsets other or not. In certain situations although a right some things should not be said and knowing that difference takes moral judgment.…
When a person is ignorant, intolerant, prejudice, and negatively bias they compromise themselves and people around them. In a trial the jurors have a defendant's life in their hands and by automatically thinking someone's guilty because of where they life is absurd and voting guilty because of those opinions is an act of discrimination. Using Ten as an example we witness how being clouded by unrealistic biases hinders people from casting rational and fair judgement. A person's guilt should not be determined by a factor in their lives, their social class, their background, or their appearance. Not only do the negative aspects of prejudice affect the person or group that they are directed towards but they affect how the world views the people…
The issue of distributive justice is relevant in our society due to current thoughts on economic inequality in politics. The political philosophers John Rawls and Robert Nozick have differing views when it comes to the topic of distributive justice. This analyze the positions of John Rawls and Robert Nozick, finding that Nozick’s view of distribution is preferable to Rawls’ difference principle because people deserve to keep what they earn and their earnings should not be taken away from them because that would be a violation of their personal liberties.…