Justice: Theory and Applications

The problem of justice occupies a special place in contemporary political philosophy. In the words of its most influential figure, John Rawls, "Justice is the first virtue of social institutions". That view seems to be shared by a majority of authors and theories. However, there is no comparable agreement regarding what justice demands, from whom, and to whom. Proponents of different theories disagree about the content of the demands of justice: does it demand equality, priority to the worst off, or merely that each person has enough of the relevant goods, according to some notion of sufficiency? They also disagree about the currency of distribution: in what dimension should people be made equal: in their welfare, capabilities, resources, or something else? Likewise, there is disagreement about the scope of the demands of justice: is it people in general who owe and are owed the duties of justice to one another? Or is it only members of the same politically organized society? The scope question has a temporal dimension as well: are our obligations to future generations identical with or different from what we owe to the appropriate subset of the members of the current generation? Another dispute concerns the kind of actors to which justice primarily applies: is it only social institutions that must discharge the demands of justice, or are the private choices of individuals equally under its application?

These questions have the utmost relevance for political philosophers. However, their importance spill over to other disciplines. Given that many choices policymakers make are distributive in nature, it is not surprising that issues of justice appear in many other spheres. The course will review some contexts that raise important questions about justice: Most people agree that educational goods are important in shaping one’s life prospects. But there is disagreement about how these ought to be distributed: How should educational opportunities be distributed? What is equal opportunity in education? What other competing values there are? Another important good that has enduring effects on people’s lives is health. Is health a special good, or is it one among others? If a person enjoys less health because of her previous actions should health care be sensitive to this fact?
 
Recently, some theorists have suggested that the theory of distributive justice should be extended to include issues of just war. For instance, if there is an unjust world order that impermissibly benefits wealthier nations at the cost of poorer ones, are the latter permitted by justice to wage war against the former?
 
These, among others, are the questions that will be discussed in this course.