Chapter 8 Justice Two Contemporary Theories of Justice

Chapter 8: Justice Two Contemporary Theories of Justice: Rawls and Nozick Introducing Philosophy, 10 th edition Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, and Clancy Martin

John Rawls (1921 -2002) • Author of A Theory of Justice (1971) and former professor of philosophy at Harvard University • Probably the most influential American political philosopher of the twentieth century John Rawls argues for a view of justice that places the rights of the individual over the utility of any group of individuals or state

Rawls defends two principles in order of priority: • The first principle: We all have basic rights and equal rights, in particular with reference to our personal freedom • The second principle: Although we cannot expect everyone in society to enjoy equal wealth, equal health, and equal opportunities, we can and should insist that all inequalities are to every individual’s advantage

• Rawls imagines an “original position” in which all of us are “unencumbered” by any of our particular traits or interests • In such a situation, what would be rational for us to choose to do, by way of the principles according to which society should be run? • Rawls conceives of “justice as fairness”

• Rawls connects justice with a concept of equality • But does a state have the right to redistribute our wealth as it sees fit in order to achieve equality? • The right to our possessions is another right not adequately addressed in theories such as Rawls’ • This right to property, known as entitlement, gives rise to theory of justice popularly known as libertarianism

• An “entitlement theory” such as that first developed by John Locke puts the right to private property first and foremost and couples it with a deep skepticism as to the wisdom and fairness of government • Locke argued that what gives a person the right to a piece of property is the fact that he has “mixed his labor with it, ” in other words, worked with it and improved it

For his labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common with others —John Locke

Robert Nozick (1938 -2002) • American philosopher who taught at Harvard University; author of an influential book on political philosophy, Anarchy, State and Utopia, as well as Philosophical Explanations • Robert Nozick argues that any attempt to enforce the redistribution of wealth according to some schema or “pattern” necessarily violates the rights of the individual

• Nozick offers a refined version of Locke’s entitlement theory • Nozick argues that enforced redistribution of wealth according to some schema necessarily violates individual rights

1. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice is entitled to that holding 2. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer, from someone else entitled to the holding, is entitled to the holding 3. No one is entitled to a holding except by (repeated) applications of 1 and 2 —Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia

Justice or Care • Most of the debate concerning justice has been by males • Feminists raise the concern that there is male bias in the debate concerning justice • Further, there is the concern that there is some male bias in the very notion of “justice” itself