Deck 11: Social Justice

Question 1

What does Rawls mean by the "original position"? What is the aim of the persons in the original position? Do you agree that such considerations would lead to "justice as fairness"?

Answer 1

good essay will:
Explicate the meaning and the purpose of the "original position" in Rawls's argument.
Evaluate the strengths and/or weaknesses of the notion of the "original position" as leading to "justice and fairness."

Question 2

What, in your own words, are Rawls's two principles of justice? Do you agree that these are just foundations for a society? Explain.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Why are the items ruled out by the veil of ignorance not allowed to feature in arguments for principles of justice in the original position?

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

The original position is the same as the state of nature.

Question 5

The veil of ignorance rules out the use of morally arbitrary considerations in the choice of principles of justice in the original position.

Question 6

Rawls argues that social and economic inequalities are incompatible with a truly just society.

Question 7

Rawls claims that we can enter the original position by reasoning according to the restrictions identified by the veil of ignorance.

Question 8

According to Rawls's theory of justice, infringements of basic liberties can only be justified by greater social and economic advantages.

Question 9

Persons in the original position have knowledge of

A) Their class position and social status.
B) Their conception of the good.
C) Their natural talents and abilities.
D) None of the above.

Question 10

The original position is

A) The state of nature.
B) A hypothetical choice situation.
C) An actual historical state of affairs.
D) An illusion.

Question 11

On Rawls's view, the correct principles of justice are determined by

A) God's commands.
B) Human nature.
C) Societal conventions.
D) The choice that rational individuals would make in a hypothetical situation.

Question 12

Rawls claims that his two principles of justice follow from

A) Allowing for the contingencies of social circumstance.
B) Preventing the contingencies of social circumstance.
C) Preventing the accidents of natural endowment.
D) Both b and c

Question 13

Injustice, according to Rawls, is

A) Inequalities that work to benefit everyone.
B) Equalities that benefit everyone.
C) Inequalities that are not to the benefit of all.
D) None of the above.

Question 14

What is the "veil of ignorance," and how does it function in Rawls's argument for his two principles of justice?

Question 15

Why does Rawls call his view "justice as fairness"? Is this an apt term? Explain.

Question 16

What do the principles of justice apply to, and what is their intuitive foundation? Do you find them plausible? Explain.
Distributive Justice
Robert Nozick

Question 17

Why does Nozick reject the term "distributive justice"? What does he think our actual society is like? Do you agree?

Question 18

What are the three parts of a theory of justice in holdings?

Question 19

Explain the Wilt Chamberlain example. Do you agree with Nozick's conclusion? Explain.

Question 20

Nozick claims that distribution does not matter to justice.

Question 21

Nozick's view focuses on what people are entitled to have.

Question 22

Nozick claims that the existence of past injustice has no effect on the justice of present holdings.

Question 23

The principle of justice in transfer applies to the original distribution of holdings.

Question 24

If you freely choose to give all of your money away to someone else, then that person, according to Nozick, is entitled to that money.

Question 25

Nozick rejects the idea that "distributive justice"

A) Is a neutral term.
B) Lacks historical import.
C) Is the product of individually free choices.
D) Both a and b

Question 26

Nozick formulates his principles of justice in terms of the concept of

A) Equality.
B) Holdings.
C) Fairness.
D) None of the above.

Question 27

The following is not one of Nozick's principles of justice:

A) The difference principle.
B) The justice in transfer principle.
C) The justice in acquisition principle.
D) The rectification of injustice principle.

Question 28

According to Nozick, it is unrealistic to suppose that

A) Everyone wants the same pattern of holdings.
B) Everyone can coordinate his or her actions precisely.
C) Everyone knows how his or her own choices affect the overall distribution of holdings.
D) All of the above.

Question 29

Nozick uses the Wilt Chamberlain example to illustrate

A) The importance of a central distribution mechanism.
B) The possibility that many individuals might voluntarily transfer their holdings to a single individual.
C) The possibility that one is not entitled to one's salary.
D) The importance of the principle of rectification of injustice.

Question 30

Which conception of justice do you favor: Rawls's (previous reading) or Nozick's? Why?

Question 31

What is the role of free choice in Nozick's theory of justice?

Question 32

Do you agree with Nozick that one cannot reasonably reject the entitlement conception of justice? Explain.
Non-contractual Society: A Feminist View
Virginia Held

Question 33

In your own words, explain the opposing models for society discussed by Held. Do you agree with Held's criticism of traditional models for society?

Question 34

What are the features of the relation between the mothering person and child identified by Held? Do you find them significant for our thinking about society? Explain.

Question 35

Are you convinced by Held that we should change the perspective we take when thinking about society and morality? Explain.

Question 36

The relation between "economic men" is the basis for thinking about society in terms of contracts based on self-interest.

Question 37

Held claims that a "mothering person" can be male or female.

Question 38

According to Held, all women share a single distinctive point of view.

Question 39

To focus on the family unit as the basis for thinking about society allows for taking trust, cooperation, and caring as central moral values.

Question 40

The power relations between a mothering person and a child are different than those between "economic men."

Question 41

According to Held, rational contracts are the foundation for the fundamental ties that bind human beings together.

Question 42

The relation between a mothering person and a child is always voluntary.

Question 43

According to Held, current conceptions of rationality assume that human beings are

A) Self-interested.
B) Independent.
C) Mutually disinterested.
D) All of the above.

Question 44

Held opposes the relation between "economic men" to

A) The relation between husband and wife.
B) The relation between adult child and aged parent.
C) The relation between a mothering person and a child.
D) The relation between sovereign country and colony.

Question 45

Held claims that focusing on the postpatriarchal family

A) Will help women gain more rights.
B) Will give us a more adequate conception of society and morality.
C) Will exclude men.
D) All of the above.

Question 46

The relation of mothering to child differs from market relations in that

A) It is limited with respect to voluntariness.
B) It is permanent and non-replaceable.
C) It is based on notions of equivalent value.
D) Both a and b

Question 47

The following is an important feature of the relation between a mothering person and a child:

A) Each has privacy.
B) Each has equal entitlements.
C) Both have the same kind of power.
D) Both deserve equal consideration as persons.

Question 48

Fulfilling one's obligations to another, according to Held,

A) Consist of leaving the other person alone.
B) Involve equating respect with non-interference.
C) May involve concerns other than rights.
D) Means viewing equality as equivalent to having equal legal rights.

Question 49

Explain some key differences between the relation between "economic men" and the relation between a mothering person and a child.

Question 50

Why does Held think that contractual thinking has left out women and children? Do you agree? Explain.

Question 51

Do you agree with Held that we should think differently about society and morality? Explain.
The Republic
Plato

Question 52

Plato disparages democracy. Do you agree with his criticisms? Explain.

Question 53

How do Socrates and the others define justice and injustice? How do they arrive at this definition, and do you think that this is a good definition? Explain.

Question 54

Explain the allegory of the cave and the lessons that it is meant to impart.

Question 55

Socrates and the others agree that each individual has a function he or she is naturally suited to perform in society and should perform that function only.

Question 56

Socrates and the others define "justice" as each individual trying to gain power.

Question 57

Socrates and the others define "injustice" as a single individual either performing multiple functions or performing a function for which one is not naturally well suited.

Question 58

The ship analogy illustrates why the philosopher king does not want to rule.

Question 59

Socrates argues that objects of sight cannot be known.

Question 60

According to Socrates, the just society is ruled by a philosopher king whose decisions are enforced by a strong military.

Question 61

Socrates claims that we all

A) Have a natural desire for power.
B) Have different natural talents.
C) Have knowledge of the Good.
D) All of the above.

Question 62

The myth of the metals

A) Is accepted by the rulers.
B) Is made up by the rulers.
C) Does not apply to the rulers.
D) Both b and c

Question 63

According to Socrates, the philosopher-kings are

A) Reluctant to govern.
B) The only ones who ought to govern.
C) Genuinely good and wise.
D) All of the above.

Question 64

According to Socrates, a Form like Goodness itself or Beauty itself is

A) Visible.
B) An object of belief and opinion.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 65

In the parable of the cave, the light on the wall in front of the prisoners is

A) Cast by the sun.
B) Cast by a streetlamp.
C) Cast by a fire.
D) Not actually light.

Question 66

According to Socrates, the parable of the cave is intended to illustrate

A) The nature of government.
B) The degree to which our nature is enlightened.
C) The immortality of the soul.
D) The existence of God.

Question 67

Explain the ship analogy. What is it supposed to illustrate?

Question 68

Do you agree with Plato that democracy is an inferior form of government? Explain.

Question 69

What do you think of the proposed use of the myth of metals? Explain.
Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes

Question 70

How does Hobbes define "war"? Do you agree with him that unless we lived under a coercive state power our lives would be characterized by a state of war? Explain.

Question 71

What are the three laws of nature? How does Hobbes arrive at them?

Question 72

Summarize Hobbes' argument against the fool in your own words. Do you find it persuasive? Explain.

Question 73

According to Hobbes's view of human nature, people are naturally inclined to quarrel and fight with one another.

Question 74

The fool, according to Hobbes, claims that it is always rational to keep one's contracts.

Question 75

According to Hobbes, it is irrational to do something that one does not think will benefit one's self-interest.

Question 76

According to Hobbes, no action can be unjust prior to the making of a covenant.

Question 77

Every person has a right to do what he or she judges necessary to preserve his or her own life according to Hobbes.

Question 78

According to Hobbes, the role of a civil power is first and foremost to provide for the common good.

Question 79

Human beings in the state of nature are pushed to war against each other by

A) Competition.
B) Desire for glory.
C) Mutual mistrust.
D) All of the above.

Question 80

According to Hobbes, humans are inclined to seek peace because of

A) A fear of death.
B) A moral concern for others.
C) A fear of God.
D) None of the above.