16/2/21 POL SCI

Justice from Plato to Rawls

-Plato talking about justice (individual justice)
-Communalism justice education- 3 t
-Coined the term social justice around 1840 by Luigi
Taperelli
-Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine- political thinkers
-Charity, talks about equity
-Thomas Aquinas talking from an ethics and natural law
point of view
-Ethics- what is the right thing to do at this point of time,
what dictates it (some extent morals or relations or what
we’ve learnt
-Morals- universal/standard, vary from culture t culture/
region to region/ time to time
-Natural law- modern citizenship, man is inherently
dictated by his conscience ie he’s an evolved animal,
therefore is confused bw what’s right and wrong and will
do what’s right. Man is inherently good
-Certain policies need to be adopted for social justice
-John Rawls theory of justice (1971)
-Justice As Fairness: A Restatement- response to nozick
(2002)

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-The Original Position John Rawls
1)The Veil of Ignorance- The way things are is the diff bw
veil of ignorance and original position (people are not
happy). Veil of ignorance- not having the complete
knowledge. Original position- facts, social standing.
People don’t have the knowledge so they don’t know what
they want.
2)The Reflective Equilibrium- People have more
knowledge, they are m0re aware, ideal situations where all
the individuals are in harmony, 3 processes.
3 processes- Individuals identify a group of judgements,
explain and justify these judgements and discover the
principles on which they were based. If disagreements
arise, sort them out in view of the principles of justice
(identified what they want) (individuals in a society)
Gain knowledge(1), understand how(2) and then decide
as a group on what to follow(3)
3)Principles of Justice- Ideas of equality, positive elements
of equity, liberty.