The Four Theories Of Distributive Justice

1. Introduction

Justice means giving each person what he or she deserves or, in more traditional terms, giving each person his or her due. Justice and fairness are closely related terms that are often today used interchangeably (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, S.J., & Mayer, 2014). Likewise, distributive justice concerns the fair, just or equitable distribution of benefits and burdens.

This is an essay about distributive justice also known as fair distribution of social goods. At the beginning of this essay will be a brief introduction of distributive justice. There are three main theories of justice. These theories will be discussed later in the essay. Along with it, this essay will look into the four concepts of justice, descriptive justice in

In other words, they are doing something morally wrong by violating your right. 4. Theories of Distributive Justice

The main three theories of distributive justice include; Mill’s Utilitarianism, Rawls’s Justice as Fairness, and Nozick’s libertarianism.

4.1 Rawls’s Justice as Faireness

On one influential view, distributive justice concerns the fair sharing of the burdens and benefits of social cooperation (Rawls, 1971). The general concept of this theory is that, all social primary goods, liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of selfrespect are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any or all of these goods is to the advantage of the least favored (Piccard, 1971).

John Rawls proposes the following two principles of justice:

» Each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all. And in this scheme the equal political liberties, and only those liberties, are to be guaranteed their fair value.

» Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: o They are to be attached to positions and offices open to all

Therefore, it is best thought of as providing moral guidance for the political processes and structures that affect the distribution of economic benefits and burdens in societies (Distributive Justice, 1996).

6. Distributive Justice in Health Care

The problem of distributive justice is primarily relevant for goods that are scarce in an absolute sense. The allocation of goods does not create an issue of distributive justice, except in the very general sense that citizens can differ in their ability-to-pay, which is related to their ability to earn income. But this is a problem that is related not only to health care services but to all goods that meet basic needs and that can be solved within the system of taxes and transfers, for example by guaranteeing a minimum income at or above the subsistence level (Breyer, 2009).

Distributive justice in healthcare is important due to the needs of goods measured by the illness differ immensely among citizens. In some scenarios, it is for reasons beyond the individual’s control, especially due to his/her genetic endowment.

In addition, although justice implies equal treatment of equals under comparable circumstances. It is questionable what “equal treatment” actually means. According