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The table below summarize much of the discussion in this module to this point. It also refers to some point that are beyond the scope of this module. For example, Sandel provides a communitarian criticism of Rawls. Rawls’ self can be detached from its social surroundings and defined in terms of rational self-interest. Sandel argues that justice must confront more robust selves or individuals who are inseparable from their social context. Hence, the social contract itself (or Rawls’ original position) must always factor in the projects and social relations that partially constitute who we are. Second, Walzer argues that there are spheres of justice that correspond to different practical areas; each sphere has its own distinct principle or procedure of distribution and these different procedures cannot be reduced to one all-inclusive view. So economic goods can be distributed consequentially but political goods must have some kind of right-based or deontological procedure. Third and finally, Nussbaum and Sen see justice as following from a more robust conception of human dignity that is filled out by substantive freedoms or what they term capabilities. M. Nussbaum. (2006). Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, species Membership . Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press.

Root meaning

Key Features

Kinds and Senses

Useful Frameworks

Cases

Giving each what is due—places justice under the debits/credit metaphor Pattern Approaches: Justice = the conformity of current distribution to an ideal pattern
  • Equality or equal shares of benefits and burdens
  • Merit or the most to those who merit or deserve it
  • Need or the most to those who have the greatest needs
Distributive : dividing burdens and benefits of social cooperation fairly. Retributive : fair and impartial administration of rewards and punishments Social Contract Version One
  • Agents pursuing self-interest
  • Negotiating out of condition of equality in SN
  • Agreement reached among parties exchanging liberties to secure rights represents a just procedure
Hughes
  • Does civil law provide victims of wrongful dismissal with adequate means of redress?
Justice as fairness and justice as equality
  • First emphasizes impartiality
  • Second emphasizes equality
Historical Process View : if the current distribution results from a process free of coercion and deception, then it is just.
  • Justice as Entitlement results from repeated applications of …
  • Justice in acquisition (mixing one’s labor with an object)
  • and Justice in transfer (voluntary exchange of goods between individuals)
Michael Jordan is entitled to his larger share if collectively we have transferred our money to him to watch him play.
Compensatory : fair compensation for wrongful injuries Administrative : Impartial and fair administration of rules and procedures (consistent with due process) Rawls Version: Social Contract under veil of ignoranceRational Self-Interest (maximize primary goods) + Veil of Ignorance (Ignorance of natural talents, gender, social class, economic and political status, etc.) = Procedural Justice as spelled out in two principles:1. Equal Liberties Principle : “Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.”2. Difference Principle : “social and economic inequalities…are just only if they result in compensating benefits for everyone, and in particular for the least advantaged members of society.” (Rawls, Theory of Justice in Beachamp and Bowie Business Ethics, 561.) Incident at Morales
  • Do maquiladores represent a fair distri bution of economic goods and risks? Consider especially, lower wages and lower environmental, and safety standards
Intuition Pump
  • 3 students can help you move: one is needy, another skilled, and the three are available (share wages?)
Metaphor: Justice emerges out of a social contract
  • agents with rational self-interest (utility maximizers)
  • mutually beneficial exchange or quid pro quo
  • knowledge and comprehension of terms of quid pro quo
  • Voluntary (Free and informed Consent)
In general processes of acquisition and transfer must be liberty-preserving or free from coercion and deception Justice can be treated as a right essential to autonomy, vulnerable to a standard threat and feasible in that it does not deprive the correlative duty-holder of anything essential Utilitarianism : Justice is intrinsically valuable but only as a part of happiness (especially happiness of the greatest number) These two principle allow for maximizing primary goods (=rational self-interest) under a veil of ignorance according to RawlsPrimary Goods:
  • rights and liberties
  • opportunities and powers
  • income and wealth
CEO Pay
  • Justifiable under historical process view?
  • Justifiable under need, equality, or merit patterns?
Justice has been characterized in different ways as a …
  • right essential to autonomy
  • good essential to human happiness
  • virtue or disposition of character of human agent
Spheres of Justice (Walzer): There are several distinct spheres of practical activity, each with its own rule of distributive justice. (Examples: Educational, Political, Economic) One Laptop Per Child
  • Do XO laptops provide the means to reduce the digital divide between developed and developing nations?

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Source:  OpenStax, Business, government, and society. OpenStax CNX. Mar 04, 2014 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10560/1.6
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