Lesson 10

JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS:

PROMOTING THE COMMON GOOD

“In a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled”
The sense of justice is continuous with the love of mankind”
-John Rawls

LESSON OUTCOMES:

At the end of the discussion, the learners can:

1. Distinguish and analyze the difference between the concepts of justice
and fairness.
2. Create their own viewpoints regarding justice as fairness.
3. Be aware of social disparities and come up with an idea to lessen or
totally eradicate it.

LESSON CONTENT:

John Rawls, in his article “A theory of Justice," says that Justice and fairness
refers to different concepts. Justice is about the state giving to people their
due, while fairness is about people’s position in society being determined by
factors within their control. (Rawls, 2007). However, for some justice is the
fairness of all beings meaning everyone should work for the least fortunate.
According to (Filippo Dionigi, 2017) justice is a virtue of social institutions,
measured by fairness in allocating benefits and burdens, defined by two basic
principles: Liberty and Difference. While fairness is how every individuals will
comply with the standard set of rules given by the society as (Goldman, B., &
Cropanzano, 2014) stated that “Fairness” should refer to how one responds to
perceptions of rules (rule compliance). As for Green, Johnson, Kim and Pope
(2007) note in their work on the ethics of assessment, fairness is a "general
principle that no one contests in the abstract" (p.1001). Fairness is a standard
rule that cannot be questioned by someone since, fairness is an ideal that has
pervaded the history of education in democratic societies, from the
establishment of merit-based systems centuries ago to the organization of
contemporary classrooms (Tierney, 2013).

There is always one person who wants to know and achieve justice. He is John
Bordley Rawls also known as John Rawls. He is an American Philosopher who’s
famous in his work- A theory of Justice. Rawls is known as one of the twentieth

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century’s most influential American philosophers. Born in 1921, John Rawls was
a philosopher from an upper- middle-class Christian family. Two of his brothers
died while he was a child. Then, as a soldier during World War II, he saw the
horrific effects of the destruction of Hiroshima by nuclear bomb. Rawls
returned to civilian life without his faith and with a belief that life was both
short and unfair. However, he also believed that human endeavour could make
life fairer, and he became dedicated to his career studying justice. He died in
2002 at the age of 81 (Filippo Dionigi, 2017).

RAWLS’ JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS

John Rawls aimed to construct a new form of justice and a new society as well.
A society which upholds the benefit of the greater good which is working for
the least fortunate. This is somehow related to utilitarianism however Rawls
stated that it pays no attention to individuals’ well-being since all peoples
actions are done because it promotes greater good. Since utilitarianism argues
that the morality of an action should be judged according to its consequences;
a “virtuous” action achieves the greatest good for the greatest number of
people (Filippo Dionigi, 2017). Being disturbed to utilitarian philosophy John
Rawls created his own concept of social justice which is the Justice as Fairness
Theory.

The first Rawls principle of social justice is the Liberty principle which primarily
concerns about political institutions as cited by De Guzman, J. (n. d.), in John
Rawls theory.

“Each person has the same and infeasible claim to a fully adequate scheme
of equal basic liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme of
liberties for all” (John Rawls and His Theory of Justice, n.d) as cited by De
Guzman, J. (n. d.)

This means that everybody has the same basic equal rights which can never
be taken away De Guzman, J. (n. d.). Every individual has the same set of
standards of rules in all just institutions. However, this universal respect and
equalities has its boundaries as stated by (Filippo Dionigi, 2017) this is the idea
that society is based on an implicit contract between the state and each citizen
of that state. In Rawls theory he added that restricting the liberties of an
intolerant group that aims to harm the liberties of others may be justified.
Meaning that it’s a two ways process that every individuals has the freedom to
do whatever they like, whenever they like providing that they follow the
standard rules and universality.

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Rawls gave examples most of the liberties in the U.S. Bill of Rights, such as
freedom of speech and due process of law. He nonetheless added some
liberties from the larger sphere of human rights such as freedom of travel.
Rawls also recognized the right of private persons, corporations, or workers to
own a property. He however, omitted the right to own the ‘means of
production’, he also left out right to inherit wealth De Guzman, J. (n. d.).

Equality is great, however in reality we may all have the same basic liberties
but limited because of social disparities. Rawls second principle emphasizes
having equal opportunity and minding the greater good.

The second Rawls principle of social justice are the Fair equality of Opportunity
and The Difference Principle which primarily concerns social and economic
institutions as cited by De Guzman, J. (n. d.), in John Rawls theory.

“Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions. First they are
to be attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair
equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be the greatest benefit of the
least-advantaged members of society” (John Rawls and His Theory of Justice,
n.d) as cited by De Guzman, J. (n. d.)

Justice should rely on conditions and procedures that everyone regards as fair
(Filippo Dionigi, 2017). Moreover, a just society ought to find ways to lessen
inequalities in areas where it can function De Guzman, J. (n. d.). Since
inequalities is inevitable John Rawls propose that it should be addresses in all
aspects by being fair to everyone and recognizing equality. Rawls emphasizes
that a just society is fair equality of opportunity regardless of religion, belief,
language and any other form of status.

Rawls refer to the best jobs in private business and public employment by the
term offices and positions in his second principle. He proposed that this jobs
must be open to everybody by the society granting fair equality of opportunity
De Guzman, J. (n. d.).

John Rawls social justice principle which states that everyone should work for
the least advantage is the Difference Principle. As what De Guzman, J. (n. d.)
cited from John Rawls Theory, it indicated that differences in wealth and
income, all social and economic inequalities should work for the good of least
favoured. Rawls preferred maximizing the improvement of the least
advantaged group in a society De Guzman, J. (n. d.). Difference principle is
somehow related to maxim rule since they are beneficial to the least fortunate
people. As stated by Anderson, T. L. (2002) maxim Rule tends to reduce the
effects of uncertainty, yielding better guarantees and minimizing the harm to
the least advantaged.

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THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

It is used by John Rawls to further illustrate his new version of social contract
which is the justice as fairness theory. Since it is just an illustration, thought
experiment is a fictional gathering with strict conditions that allowed persons
to deliberate, only by employing their reason and logic. Their duty was to assess
principles of social justice and select the best ones. Since impartiality is
important, Rawls assuring that the choice of social justice would be unbiased
individuals in this mental exercise go under veil of ignorance. Under veil of
ignorance these fictional persons would not know their own sex, age, race, or
anything else about themselves. Also they are unaware of the society from
which they came, though they would have general knowledge about how
social institutions functioned. There are primary goods which Rawls would let
the participants allocate in the society these are wealth and income, rights and
liberties, opportunities for advancement, and self-respect. The participants
would have to deliberate on how a society should go about fairly distributing
these primary goods among its people. Rawls held that the persons in his
experiment would logically select principles of social justice that maximized
the benefits for the least advantaged. De Guzman, J. (n. d.)

CRITIQUE OF RAWLS PRINCIPLE

Criticism plays a vital role in making someone's work improve and be

successful. Criticism shows that an intent or purpose of something in better
sense. To make John Rawls’ Justice as Fairness be understandable.

One criticism about Rawls’ Justice and Fairness principle is that the principle
does not tolerate religious beliefs that teaches their followers that men and
women are unequal. This criticism will disagree with Rawls’ principles of
equality of basic liberty and equal opportunity (De Guzman, n.d.).

Rawls difference principle is also a controversial find. It states that the greatest
benefit must go to the least advantage. (De Guzman, J. 2013). People who are
categorized as conservative and free markets critic that it is unjust to possess
something from the most fortunate person of what they have earned and
redistribute it for the gain of the least fortunate people.

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DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

In Rawls (1971) ‘Justice As Fairness’, a concept of social justice is introduced,

called distributive justice. It is a concept that concerns the nature of a socially
just allocation of goods in a society that includes the available quantities of
goods, the process by which goods are distributed and the subsequent
allocation of the goods to society members. (De Guzman, J (n.d.)) in John Rawls
Theory. Meaning, people should lbe given equal opportunities and equal
access to everything. It also states that all of us should be regarded collectively.
On much simpler terms, it is how the resources of a group or society is
distributed fairly, with no group or society member marginalized. The just
distribution of resources is determined by the distributive norm that is at play.
Norm, as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, as a principle of right
action binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or
regulate proper and acceptable behavior, and there are five common types of
distributive norms according to Forsyth (2006): Equity, Equality, Power, Need,
Responsibility.

Equality refers to the notion that all group members should be given an equal
share of the rewards and costs, regardless of their inputs. (Forsyth, 2006)

Equity is the notion that a group member’s input should affect its outcome, or
a member’s outcome should be based on its input. An individual should
receive correspondingly with what he/she has given.

Power is a norm at play when the authority is receiving more compared to the
members of the group.

Need is when the goods is distributed to the members of a group who needs
it the most.

Responsibility is when the abundant members of the group shares their

resources.

Examples Involving Distributive Justice and Norms

It is a right of every child to have free and quality education, therefore,

education must be equally distributed regardless of gender and race.

It is equitable to look at the case of medical doctors, whose cost of expense and
time of study before being a certified professional, earns a fairly high enough
salary for practicing their profession. On a simpler example it is also equitable
to say that a student’s grade is based on his performance.

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In a corporate setting, the boss or the company owner gets more
compensation/salary than his workers. Therefore, we can say that the
distributive norm at play in such setting is power.

During a calamity, those areas that has more severe conditions are highly
regarded than areas least damaged. We can see that the distributive norm
need is in play as well because that certain area requires the most goods
allocated to them. Those people whom placed in higher class should at least
lend their hands to the least fortunate people and feel the responsibility of
those who are in great need.

Egalitarian Is a trend of thought in political philosophy. An Egalitarian favors

equality of some sort. People should get the same, or be treated the same, or
be treated as equals, in some respect. (Anderson, Richard. 2013).

STATE AND CITIZENS RESPONSIBILITY

Taxation- According to Aguolu (2004) stated that taxation is the most

important source of revenue to the government; owing to the inherent power
of the government to impose taxes, the government is assured at all times of
its tax revenue no matter the circumstances. These taxes are collected to use
as a finance to the expenditure of the government. The expenditure of the
government fundamentally includes social welfare programs for the citizens
(De Guzman, n.d.). In which inclusive growth does have a relatedness to social
welfare and taxation.

Inclusive growth- is economic growth that created opportunity for all

segments of the population and distributes the dividends of increased
prosperity both in monetary and non-monetary terms, fairly across society
(Inclusive Growth, n.d.). The gap between rich and poor has enlarged.
Increasing inequality in earnings and in wealth. (De Guzman, n.d.). Recognizing
this concerns will result in more arguments that would raise awareness with
the inclusive growth.

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

• Distributive Justice includes the available quantities of goods, the process

by which goods are distributed, and the subsequent allocation of the goods
to society members De Guzman, J. (n. d.).

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• Egalitarian is a set of closely related socio-economic-political theories that
without exemption promote the proposition that all society members
ought to have exactly equal amount of resources. De Guzman, J. (n. d.)

• Fairness is about people’s position in society being determined by factors

within their control. (Chroust & Osborn, 1942).

• Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of

thought. (Rawls, 2009).

• Justice as Fairness is primarily concerned with ‘the way in which major

social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and deter- mine
the division of advantages from social cooperation’ (C. Farelly, 2004).

• Original position is the appropriate initial status quo which insures that the
fundamental agreements reached in it are fair (Rawls, 2009).

• Utilitarianism is the main tradition that adopts a welfarist metric when

assessing the merits of actions and policies/laws (C. Farelly, 2004).

• Veil of Ignorance. This supposes that each participant represents, not

himself or herself, but some unknown segment of society. They are not
allowed to know the social positions or particular comprehensive doctrines
of the persons they represent. They do not know the persons’ race and
ethnic group, sex or various native endowments such as strength or
intelligence (Anderson, 2002).

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS:

Aguolu, O., (2004). Taxation and Tax Management In Nigeria, 3rd Edition Enugu: Meridian Associates.

Arneson, Richard, “Egalitarianism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (summer 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta
(ed.)

Anderson, T. L. (2002). Rawl ’ s Social Contract : Justice as Fairness.

C. Farelly. (2004). Contemporary Political Theory. Contemporary Political Theory: A Reader, 1–318.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446215272.n8

Chroust, A.-H., & Osborn, D. L. (1942). Notre Dame Law Review Aristotle’ s Conception of Justice, 17(2), 1–1. Retrieved from
http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr%0Ahttp://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol17/iss2/2

De Guzman, J. (n.d.). ETHICS: PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN MODERN IN MODERN SOCIETY. Lesson V: Justice
and Fairness

Feinberg, J., & Shafer-Landau, R. (2013). Reason and responsibility: Readings in some basic problems of philosophy (pp.
654–663).

Filippo Dionigi, J. K. (2017). An Analysis of John Rawls’s: A Theory of Justice.

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Forsyth, D. R. , Group Dynamics (5th Ed.) (P. 388 - 389) Belmont: CA, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning., 2006

Goldman, B., & Cropanzano, R. (2014). “Justice” and “fairness” are not the same thing. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1956

J. Mandle. (2009). RAWLS’S A THEORY OF JUSTICE An Introduction. United States of America by Cambridge University
Press, New York.

Rawls, J. (2007). Justice as Fairness, 67(2), 164–194. Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-

8108%28195804%2967%3A2%3C164%3AJAF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y

Rawls, J. (2009). A Theory of Justice (1999 Revised Edition) (A Theory o). Harvard University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1080/713659260

Tierney, R. D. (2013). Fairness in classroom assessment. SAGE Handbook of Research on Classroom Assessment,
(January 2013), 125–144. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452218649.n8

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