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JURISPRUDENCE > Modern questions of justice in African states > Flashcards

Modern questions of justice in African states Flashcards

1
Q

What is the descriptive?

A

What the world is like.

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2
Q

What is the prescriptive?

A

How the world ought to be.

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3
Q

What are the key components of theories of justice?

A
  1. A theory of value
  2. General principles as to how society ought to be structured.
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4
Q

What is a theory of value?

A

Concerns what the theory regards as being of value in society and in individual lives.

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5
Q

What are general principles as to how society ought to be structured?

A

These are principles which tell us the pattern of distribution of those things that are of value.

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6
Q

What are the theories of justice?

A
  1. Utilitarianism
  2. Justice as fairness.
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7
Q

Who are the founding fathers of utilitarianism?

A
  1. Jeremy Bentham
  2. John Stuart Mills.
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8
Q

What is the central principle of utilitarian ethics?

A

Acts are right insofar as they promote the greatest amount of happiness (utility).

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9
Q

What is happiness ito utilitarianism?

A

Pleasure.

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10
Q

What is unhappiness ito utilitarianism?

A

Pain.

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11
Q

What mattered in Bentham’s formulation of utilitarianism?

A

The quantity of pleasure or pain that was experienced.

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12
Q

What matters in Mill’s formulation of utilitarianism?

A
  1. The quantity of pleasure that was experienced
  2. The quality of pleasure.
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13
Q

What is Mill’s theory of utilitarianism?

A
  1. Maximising happiness involves taking account of the type of pleasures experienced
  2. Human beings intuitively have higher pleasures and lower pleasures
  3. What is higher pleasure or lower pleasure for a human being is revealed by individuals who have experienced both and self-consciously recognised which is qualitatively better.
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14
Q

What do Mill’s critics question?

A

Whether he can really succeed in distinguishing between higher and lower quality pleasures where pleasure is the only metric of value.

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15
Q

What is utilitarianism?

A

A theory of justice that evaluates what is just in relation to the consequences that flow from an action or policy.

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16
Q

How is utilitarianism consequentialist?

A

The morality or otherwise of an action is determined by its consequences, not the intentions of the party in question or the actions in themselves.

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17
Q

What is the maximising principle in utilitarianism?

A

Achieving the most amount of happiness.

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18
Q

How does distribution occur in utilitarianism?

A

The correct distribution of goods in society is whichever one achieves maximum happiness or utility.

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19
Q

How does utilitarianism include an idea of equality or impartiality?

A

Objective is to act to promote the greatest amount of happiness no matter whose happiness it is regardless of race, gender, nationality, or even species.

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20
Q

What does utilitarianism require?

A

Maximisation of utility, but in doing so, disregarding some people’s interests.

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21
Q

What are the difficulties of utilitarianism?

A
  1. Greater gains of some can compensate for lesser losses of others
  2. Has a problem recognising the fundamental rights of individuals
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22
Q

For Mill, how is utilitarianism entirely compatible with fundamental rights?

A

Rights are those things that would maximally benefit society were individuals in possession of them. therefore maximising utility requires protection of fundamental rights.

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23
Q

What is act utilitarianism?

A

Theory that promotes evaluating whether particular acts are compatible with the utilitarian principle.

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23
Q

What are the theories of utilitarianism?

A
  1. Act utilitarianism
  2. Rule utilitarianism.
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23
Q

What is rule utilitarianism?

A

Theory that involves looking at matters in a wider way and attempting to develop certain rules and principles that are justified by the principle of utility and cover most individual cases.

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24
Q

What does rule utilitarianism require?

A

A longer-term evaluation of utility and its impact on the rules and principles of morality.

24
Q

What does rule utilitarianism involve?

A

Developing principles and rules which guide day-to-day decision-making that it is decided on serious reflection and after long-standing evidence that generally maximise utility or happiness.

25
Q

What is Rawls’ idea that justice flows from an agreement that would be reached between people under fair conditions?

A

Determining principles of justice relates to the determination of the basic rules of society, ie. the basic structure of society

25
Q

What is Rawls’ well-ordered society?

A

A society that is established on the basis of fair terms of co-operation between people and guided by publicly recognised rules.

25
Q

According to Rawls, how are principles of justice determined?

A
  1. Set up a procedure that would enable all the people in society to reach fair agreement about them (to establish well-ordered society)
  2. Understand the individuals who will live in such a society and accept the principles of justice.
26
Q

Who is the father of justice as fairness?

A

Rawls.

27
Q

What capacities must an individual in a well-ordered society have?

A
  1. Capacity for a sense of justice
  2. Capacity for having a conception of the good (renders individuals free and equal).
27
Q

What is Rawls’ original position?

A

A situation in which the fair terms of co-operation are agreed to between free and equal citizens, who are born into the society in which they lead their lives.

27
Q

What is the question posed to individuals in the original position?

A

What would you agree to if you were trying to do the best for yourself but still wanted to co-operate on fair terms with others?

28
Q

What is the problem with the convention in the original position?

A

There is the problem of differential power positions

29
Q

What is the problem of differential power positions?

A

People who are in positions of privilege will wish to preserve their wealth.

30
Q

How is the problem of differential power positions addressed?

A

Through the veil of ignorance.

31
Q

What is the veil of ignorance?

A

Parties in the original position are behind a veil, knowing nothing about their particular positions in society, whether they adhere to particular doctrines, whether they have various talents, nor any information concerning their race, ethnic group, sex and gender, also do not know how various alternatives will affect their own particular case, and could land up being alone in a given society.

32
Q

How are people in the original position to make decisions about principles of justice?

A

Through the ‘thin’ conception of the good.

33
Q

What is the ‘thin’ conception of the good?

A

It covers what all individuals generally value, i.e. what it is to live well.

34
Q

What are primary goods?

A

The things we need in order to realise our individual particular goals and purposes.

35
Q

What are the different kinds of primary goods?

A

Natural and social.

36
Q

What are examples of natural primary goods?

A
  1. Health
  2. Basic intelligence
37
Q

What are examples of social primary goods?

A
  1. Basic rights and liberties
  2. Freedom of movement and choice of occupation against a range of diverse opportunities
  3. Ability to hold office and responsibility in the political and economic institutions of a society
  4. Income and wealth
  5. Self-respect
38
Q

Why would utilitarianism be rejected?

A
  1. Some individuals could possibly lose out really badly in the maximising process.
  2. Strains of commitment- people cannot realistically live up to an agreement that would risk such an outcome
  3. It allows for a nonsensical argument that violates basic human rights.
39
Q

What is the alternative if utilitarianism is rejected?

A

The principles of justice: equal basic liberties principle, fair equality of opportunity principle and difference principle.

40
Q

What is the equal basic liberties principle?

A

Each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of basic rights and liberties, compatible with a like scheme for all.

41
Q

What is the fair equality of opportunity principle?

A

Social and economic inequalities are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under fair equality of opportunity.

42
Q

What is the difference principle?

A

Social and economic inequalities are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged.

43
Q

What are the alternative principles of justice?

A

The outcome of a procedure of decision-making, ie. the original position which is set up ito the veil of ignorance and primary goods so as to reflect the situations in which fair agreement can be reached between persons.

44
Q

What are the difficulties with the difference principle?

A

Understanding how much inequality in the distribution of socio-economic resources is in fact to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, as it admits of different readings which could lead to different versions of society.

45
Q

What are the different readings that could lead to different versions of society?

A
  1. Strong capitalist reading, which contends that a society in which people are willing to take risks for their own economic benefit will ultimately lead to the advancement of all, including the least advantaged.
  2. Strong socialist reading, which contends that social and economic inequalities are generally harmful to the least advantaged ito education, access to general opportunities and their sense of their own position in society.
46
Q

What is Rawls’ middle position?

A

A capitalist system and a heavily redistributive taxation system to counter the effects of the inequalities by limiting the degree of inequality and providing resources for economic support to the least advantaged and protects democratic processes from being manipulated by the super-rich.

47
Q

What is Rawls’ view on natural talents of individuals?

A

That they flow from a natural lottery and that no one deserves the talents they have, as such they ideally should not benefit economically from having those talents.

48
Q

What is Nozick’s criticism of Rawls?

A
  1. Holding natural talent is not arbitrary and does not automatically lead to injustice of distributions that result from talents
  2. Natural talent is like distribution of grades, equal distribution would make a nonsense of natural talents
  3. Distribution of wealth and resources is similar to grading, it is fundamentally connected to the past manner in which it has acquired.
49
Q

What are the interpretations of ubuntu?

A
  1. Ethical
  2. Metaphysical
50
Q

What are the relational dimensions that are imposed by the ethical obligations of ubuntu?

A
  1. Identity
  2. Solidarity
51
Q

What is identity?

A

To identify with others involves conceiving of ourselves as connected, as part of the same group, engaging together in joint projects and co-ordinating our behaviour to realise shared ends.

52
Q

What is solidarity?

A

A psychological state where people are sympathetic towards others and seek to help them for their own sake, involves an action-component of engaging in mutual aid so as to to seek to benefit others.

53
Q

How is utilitarianism incompatible with African philosophy of community?

A
  1. Idea of community is problematic, suggests that a community exists naturally, is fixed, unchangeable and exists independently of individuals
  2. Prioritisation of the interests of the interests of the collective over those of the individual.
54
Q

What is Gyekye’s moderate communitarianism?

A

It recognises that community remains important in African ethics, but that cannot be understood without having reference to the interests and well-being of individuals.

55
Q

What is Oruka’s theory of justice?

A

The right to a human minimum.

56
Q
A

JURISPRUDENCE (7 decks)

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