Justice
What are the 2 issues of importance to feminists
and multiculturalists that have to do with
justice?
Domestic justice and Positive discrimination (affirmative action)
2 justifications for democracy?
1. No person is by nature superior to another (so if one holds power over another, it needs to be justified)
2. The interests of the people are best safeguarded by making them the ultimate political authority
True or false, Cultural minorities face barriers to
personal freedom?
True
What are the two forms of anarchy?
Communitarian Anarchists and Market anarchists
What are some of the questions political philosophers are concerned with?
Why do we need the state (or government)?
What are people like outside of the state
(without government)? or what is basic
human nature like, and what does that imply
for our ability to live together? or What is a citizen (i.e., what defines (or should define) someone as a citizen of a state)?
What are the 2 central questions of liberalism?
Questions:
1. What exactly is the freedom we’re talking about?
2. What are the limits of individual freedom?
What is the Chicken-egg problem?T
This issue is that the problem is that people aren’t involved enough in democratic decision-making to make it worth their time or effort to become informed and interested On the other hand, if they aren’t informed or interested, then they aren’t competent or motivated enough to be involved in democratic decision-making.
Define Mill's principle of Harm
Harm is being attacked or threatened, having
property destroyed, or having one’s economic position made worse; merely offending someone is not harming
them.
What is a nation-state?
The nation-state is a large political community
(possibly of millions of people living in a large
geographical area)
What are some questions the rights theory gives rise to?
Which rights are really essential to living a decent
human life, and which are merely desirable? How
do you distinguish between them?
What are the 2 types of justice?
individual and social
What are the 2 sides to political authority?
1. (When the state is a legitimate one) people generally recognize the state as the political authority, as having theright to command them in certain ways
“legitimacy” (def.): popular acceptance of the right of those who govern to exercise authority over the governed
2. People who refuse to comply are compelled to do so by the threat of sanctions or punishment
What are the two forms of rights identified by Miller?
The rights of all human beings and The rights of citizens.
What is 1 argument against nation-states and 1 argument for it?
Against: Do nations really exist, or are they merely
imagined? In other words, is there anything that
genuinely differentiates those who live on
different sides of a national boundary?
For: it makes democratic government more likely to
succeed and It provides the conditions necessary for social justice.
what is the problem of political obligation?
Why should people obey the authority, when it tells them to do things they dislike or disapprove of?
What are the 3 principles of justice?
Principle of equality
Principle based on peoples’ needs
Principle of desert/merit
What is a Problem of the intense and persistent minorities for democracy?
1. [the problem of the intense minority]:
The minority might have more at stake than the majority; heads may be counted equally, but interests/preferences are not
2. [the problem of the persistent minority]:
One group may find itself persistently in the minority
What are a few ways in which women and racial and ethnic minorities argue they enjoy
less freedom (both internal and external)?
- Cultural minorities face barriers to
personal freedom as well. According to feminists, social justice is not possible without first achieving
domestic justice
- Feminists have argued that women are still
bound by cultural norms that perpetuate
their status in society
• Example: how women should look and behave, what kind of relationships they should have with men, etc
What are 3 alternatives to a nation state?
Cosmopolitanism (in the literal sense)
Ethical cosmopolitanism
A system of global justice
what is domestic vs. social justice according to feminist?
Social justice = concerned with how social and
political institutions distribute costs and benefits
among individuals and groups in society
Domestic justice = concerned with justice
between men and women in family life (how
costs and benefits are distributed between men
and women in the domestic sphere)
What is an issue with the principle of desert?
Some argue that people are not really as
responsible for their behavior as the principle of
desert would like us to believe.
2 Possible solutions for the problems of the intense and persistent minorities in democracy ?
1. Devise a constitution that protects the minority (say, by granting
everyone certain basic rights)
2. Create separate constituencies to decide different issues (e.g.,
federalism)
What is external and internal freedom?
Bonus: Give an example of each
An individual has external freedom if she has options
available to her.
An individual has internal freedom if she has the
genuine capacity to choose her own will (her will is her own).
Why is the nation state considered Obsolete?
Internal reasons: Nations are becoming
increasingly multicultural, making it difficult to
sustain a national identity
External reasons: Some issues can only be solved
by international bodies or cooperation among
nation-states
What are the two arguments for (forward looking) and against (backwards looking) affirmative action?
1. backward-looking argument, seeks
compensatory justice) They are required to compensate members of historically under-represented groups (like women and cultural minorities) for past wrongs
2. (forward-looking argument, seeks distributive
justice)They are required to increase the representation of members of historically under-represented groups in the higher echelons of society