For justice, this is ever true,
Is but the wrong which we don't do.
1. Equal treatment: Unjust means one’s moral Rights have been violated.
One has been made to suffer a burden that one had a right to avoid
or one has been denied some benefit that one has a right to possess.
2. Fairness: Apply rules the same; treat similar cases alike except
where there is some relevant difference.
Emphasizes impartiality and consistency in justice,
a formal principle – it does not tell us which differences are relevant and which are not.
3. Equality: Justice is held to require that our treatment of people
reflects their fundamental Moral Equality.
4. What a person has done makes a difference.
Justice also requires that people get what they deserve.
Thus, a claim of injustice is meant to place the burden of proof
on those who would endorse unequal treatment.
Justice and Economic Distribution
19th Amendment to U.S. Constitution
In 1913, Congress granted the right to collect tax on the income of (some) of its citizens at 1%.
IRS forms – Estimated taxes on income that has no withholding.
Professional assistance needed by most middle income people.
Tax rules encourage our economy to develop in specific directions,
rewarding investment in some areas.
Fairness of tax rules?
exemptions/loopholes
distribution of income across the land
tax deduction for home mortgage payments
President Reagan lowered the percentage of taxation for the wealthiest income group,
the overall result favored the rich as much as in the past.
When the Reagan Administration realized that they cut taxes too much on the wealthy
they increased taxes after 1982 on the middle class six times.
George Busch senior did the same thing. Review his "read my lips no new taxes" speech.
That may have cost him his reelection.
Economic Justice
Serious questions of economic justice:
A view of justice is embedded in any economic system!!
Business responsibilities to consumers, the environment, and women and minorities.
A more detailed discussion of justice – this most abstract topic.
“Problem” of justice and discuss three theories of Justice.
The tax system of subtleties.
Economic justice deals with distribution.
What is the proper way of distributing what is available when there isn’t enough for all?
What principle of distributive justice seems best to you?
What would be your standards for distribution?
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UTILITARIAN VIEW:
Views justice in terms of societal contribution.
Assumes everyone is equal.
Justice requires expediency – that is the essence of justice.
All notions of justice are open to interpretation.
CRITIQUE
Is what is expedient just?
Individuals are allowed to be made a means to an end.
LIBERTARIAN VIEW: Nozick
Associates justice with an ideal of liberty.
Natural/Negative rights; refrain from interfering with others.
Liberty – the absence of interfering by other persons.
The Libertarian theory emphasizes contribution and merit.
Persons are entitled to their holding (property)
so long as they have acquired them fairly.
Justice as a function of certain basic rights
plus as a function of three entitlement principles:
1. Justice in acquisition
2. The transfer of holdings
3. Not entitled to holding if 1. or 2. are violated
CRITIQUE
Poor assessment of the ideal of liberty.
Other ideals are sometimes morally preferable:
(e.g., social utility, equality).
It is unfair…by birth?
Deserving has no bearing on justice.
Who determines what has been fairly acquired?
EGALITARIAN VIEW: Rawls
The primacy of individual rights.
The advantage of a practice must emphasize
the least advantaged members of a society.
Justice must be associated with equality or individual rights.
Focuses on:
distribution of economic goods and services,
and attempts to maximize the plight of the most disadvantaged.
Equal liberty and difference principles.
Equitable administration and application of the rules that define a practice.
Reciprocity basis for true community.
CRITIQUE
Using the majority as the measure of social utility.
RAWLS uses the disadvantaged minority as the measure of social utility.
THE SOCIALIST CHALLENGE
USSR/Gone
The foundation of justice is an ideal of social equality.
Natural and right for people to work for their living.
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
But what we got was/is exploitation/alienation.
Key concept –
Meaning ... individuals are not fulfilling themselves in work.
FREEDOM lies in economics; freedom from material need.
People must return to a “natural” state in which they and their labor are one.
Nationalization as a way of attaining freedom.
CRITIQUE
Many measures proposed by Marx have been implemented by capitalism.
We should decentralize not centralize.
Step-by-step reform better than revolution.
Classless? No!
State withering away? No!
Now, yes, but nothing in its place.
| Last Updated: 10/19/22 |