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UA PHIL 150C1 - Moral

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PHIL 150 1st Edition Lecture 18Outline of Last Lecture I. Do Women and Men Think Differently about Ethics?II. Implications for Moral JudgmentIII. Implications for Ethical Theory Outline of Current Lecture II. The Basic Structure of SocietyIII. Two Guiding Ideas of Justice as FairnessIV. The Two Principles of Justice as FairnessV. The Conception of CitizensVI. The Conception of SocietyVII. The Original PositionVIII. The Argument from the Original Position: The Selection of PrinciplesCurrent LectureJustice as Fairness: Justice within a Liberal SocietyThe Basic Structure of Society- Justice as fairness is Rawls's theory of justice for a liberal society- A political order can be legitimate without being just- Justice is the maximal moral standard: the full description of how a society's main institutions should be ordered- Citizens are free and equal and that society should be fair- Justice as fairness is the most egalitarian, and also the most plausible, interpretation of liberalism's fundamental concepts- Justice as fairness sets out a version of social contract theory that Rawls believes provides a superior understanding of justice to that of the dominant tradition in political philosophy: utilitarianism- Justice as fairness aims to describe a just arrangement of the major political and social institutions of a liberal society: the political constitution, the legal system, the economy, the family, and so on The arrangement of these institutions is a society's basic structure- The basic structure is the location of justice because these institutions distribute the main benefits and burdens of social lifeThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- The form of a society's basic structure will have profound effects on the lives of citizens, influencing not only their prospects but more deeply their goals, their attitudes, their relationships, and their characters- Institutions that have such pervasive influence on people's lives require justification- There are enough resources for it to be possible for everyone's basic needs to be met- Society is self-sufficient and closed, so that citizens enter it only by birth and leave it onlyat deathTwo Guiding Ideas of Justice as Fairness- Social cooperation in some form is necessary for citizens to be able to lead a decent life- Rawls's principles of justice as fairness embody the central liberal ideas that cooperation should be fair to all citizens regarded as free and equal- Rawls's negative thesis is that citizens do not deserve to be born into a rich or a poor family, to be born naturally more or less gifted than others, to be born female or male, to be born a member of a particular racial group, and so on Since these features of persons are in this sense morally arbitrary, citizens are notat the deepest level entitled to more or less of the benefits of social cooperation because of them- All social goods are to be distributed equally, unless an unequal distribution would be to everyone's advantage Since citizens are fundamentally equal, reasoning about justice should begin from a presumption that all cooperatively-produced goods should be equally divided Justice then requires that any inequalities must benefit all citizens, and particularly must benefit those who will have the least Equality sets the baseline; from there any inequalities must improve everyone's situation, and especially the situation of the worst-offThe Two Principles of Justice as Fairness- First Principle: Each person has the same indefeasible claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme of liberties for all- Second Principle: Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: They are to be attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; They are to be to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members of society (the difference principle)- The first principle of equal basic liberties is to be used for designing the political constitution, while the second principle applies primarily to economic institutions- Fulfillment of the first principle takes priority over fulfillment of the second principle, and within the second principle fair equality of opportunity takes priority over the difference principle- Two further features make this first principle distinctive The basic rights and liberties must not be traded off against other social goods Requires fair value of the political liberties- a subset of the basic liberties, concerned with the rights to hold public office, the right to affect the outcome of national elections and so on- Rawls's second principle of justice has two parts Fair equality of opportunity, requires that citizens with the same talents and willingness to use them have the same educational and economic opportunities regardless of whether they were born rich or poor The difference principle, which regulates the distribution of wealth and incomeThe Conception of Citizens- Rawls uses his conceptions of citizens and society to build his official argument for his two principles: the argument from the original position- Citizens are free in that each sees him as being entitled to make claims on social institutions in his own right—citizens are not slaves or serfs, dependent for their social status on others. Citizens are also free in that they see their public identities as uncoupled from any particular comprehensive doctrine: a citizen who converts to Islam, or recants his faith, will expect, for example, to retain his political rights and liberties throughout the transition. Finally citizens are free in being able to take responsibility for planning their own lives, given the opportunities and resources that they can reasonablyexpect- Primary goods are essential for developing and exercising the two moral powers, and useful for pursuing a wide range of specific conceptions of the good life- Primary goods are: The basic rights and liberties Freedom of movement, and free choice among a wide range of occupations The powers of offices and positions of responsibility Income and wealth The social bases of self-respect: the recognition by social institutions that gives citizens a sense of self-worth and the confidence to carry out their plans-


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UA PHIL 150C1 - Moral

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