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John Rawls Utilitarianism

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Many philosophers throughout the years have tried to reach theories from which justice derived. Justice and its origins have always been one of the most interesting topics in political philosophy. As a result from this research, philosophers found out that the theories explaining justice were mainly divided into two groups: natural right theories and utilitarianism. I will focus my answer on the role of utilitarianism, using two very famous philosophers: John Rawls who is famous for defending the natural right theories as fundaments of justice and John Stuart Mill who is one of the most famous funders of utilitarianism. John Rawls was a defender of the natural right theories such as his idea of the “veil of ignorance”. I will begin by clarifying …show more content…

This is the reason why Rawls referred to the original position also as the “veil of ignorance”. Furthermore, from this idea of original position, Rawls developed the idea of “justice as fairness”. According to the author it is fair to decide the meaning of justice in the original position where men are ignorant, therefore they are not influenced by their proper envy. No one is jealous of the other, no one tries to steal other men’s properties for his own seek or the one of the whole society. Rawls’ aim was to not violate human rights, and with his theory, the violation of human rights is not possible due to the existence of the original position and the veil of ignorance. As a conclusion, Rawls was a strict defender of individual freedom, he believed people’s actions should be tolerated as much as possible. However he admitted that people’s actions that threaten other people’s rights should be punished. Furthermore he talks about liberty of conscience, here again he believes that it should be limited only if it is a danger for other …show more content…

The main confusion of utilitarianism is that it has several interpretations. One of them claims that individuals should act for the public utility in favor of their own benefits. This first interpretation is an egoistic one, because people act in favor of the community with the only aim to have their own profits afterwards. Even though Rawls and Mill’s theories present similarities, the fundaments of the theories are the exact opposite. Rawls natural right theory privileges human rights over any other duty, whereas Mill’s utilitarian theory favors society over individual and natural rights. Rawls critic is mainly directed to utilitarianism values, which is based on measuring people according to their thoughts and status instead of caring about their

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I will talk about John Rawls’ philosophy and two major critiques made to his work by G.A. Cohen John Rawls was born in Baltimore in 1921. He was always concerned about poverty in the United States and wanted to change the society he lived in. He wrote his most famous book A Theory of Justice in 1971. This book is considered the most important book in American philosophy after the World War II. John Rawls philosophy is based on his vision of justice.

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[3]In a thought experiment proposed by philosopher John Rawls, individuals are asked to imagine designing a just society under a veil of ignorance, a concept urging people to prioritize fairness and equality since they can't predict whether their social structures will advantage or disadvantage them. Similarly, [4]Dr. King stresses a fair and harmonious society in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," except that he focuses on solving existing problems rather than creating a whole new society. The most fundamental difference between Dr. King and John Rawls is that Dr. King confronts a real problem that exists in a real society. In contrast, John Rawls only proposes a theoretical solution.

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This approach says that a society is in some sense is an agreement amount all those who make up the society. In the analogy Rawls shows his disagrements and gives solutions or what he things is a more just way of doing such things. Rawls starts off by saying “I believe that the contrast between the contract view and utilitarianism remains essentially the same in all these cases. There fore I shall compare justice as fairness with familiar variants of intuitionism, perfectionism, and utilitarianism in order to bring out the underlying difference in the simplest way.” Rawls strongly opposes utilitarianism.

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The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born in society at some particular position” (Sandel 165). Rawls points out that our society has chosen to ignore the issue of inequity most of the time, so long that the effects of this indifference do not hurt their positions. Moreover, what Rawls has described in this quote is very much evident in our society. The citizens on top–especially upper class white males–have the power to pretend the inequities in American society don’t exist, therefore making our society unjust. More

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Rawls’ idea of justice as fairness, which he presented in his book, “A Theory of Justice,” emphasizes the importance of equal opportunities and equal distribution of wealth and resources in society. This idea resonates with me because, as someone who values fairness and equality, I believe that everyone should have the same chance to succeed and live a fulfilling life. Rawls’ work has taught me to be more aware of societal inequalities and to work towards creating a fairer and more just

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Contrastingly, Rawls views democracy as the only way a state can realise justice. Citizens all need a say in how they live their lives and this improves their political lives in the state. Hobbes’ sovereign rule is flawed as he believes each citizen will give up rights and obey a single ruler who has the final say in all decisions. This type of society will eventually crumble, be it by revolution or distrust in the sovereign’s ability; displaying the total failure of law and order while oppressed citizens rise and

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The shape and content of both political and social philosophy has been significantly revolutionized since the emergence of John Rawls’ ideas. His’ A Theory of Justice’, most significantly, has been a rich source of ideas which continue to impact contemporary discussions about society and politics. Rawls 's Theory of Justice is extensively considered as one of this century 's most important pieces of political philosophy. The renowned philosopher’s ideology takes as its starting point the argument that "the most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position". By using a similar alternative to the social contract, in his Theory of Justice, Rawls addresses the problem of distributive justice.

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Rawls would object that having a society with a command economy would take away individuals’ liberty to be “self-governing agents” due to the reduction of basic rights and liberties, thus contradicting his theory of justice (Freeman, p. 51). In a command economy, the government is the sole entity that controls all aspects of the economy, including the allocation of resources. This eliminates the need for markets, thus constricting how goods are transferred between citizens, posing a number of problems for Rawls. Rawls would argue that this goes directly against the first principle of justice, specifically violating the freedoms in the liberty and integrity of the person (Freeman, p. 48).

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In Rawls’ paper, “Two Concepts of Rules”, he sheds light on fact that a distinction between justifying a practice and actions that fall under said practice, must be made. This distinction, according to Rawls is crucial in the debate between Utilitarianism and Retributivism, more specifically in defending the Utilitarian view against common criticisms, which will be addressed further in this essay. This essay will be examining the troubling moral question that Rawls addresses; The subject of punishment, in the sense of attaching legal penalties to the violation of legal rules. Rawls acknowledges that most people hold the view that punishing, in broad terms, is an acceptable institution. However, there are difficulties involved with accepting

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This in turn could result in anarchy or social tumult. Many individuals living in challenging conditions or times who have natural talents and abilities most likely would want to keep their benefits in order to help improve the situation they are in. Such people would certainly be unwilling to share their talents with the less fortunate. Rawls disregards this fact, believing that the ones with the natural abilities live in a great environment while the ones who do not carry that ability live in a horrible and corrupted environment.

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Justice is one of the most important moral and political concepts. The word comes from the Latin word jus, meaning right or law. According to Kelsen (2000), Justice is primarily a possible, but not a necessary, quality of a social order regulating the mutual relations of men As a result of its importance, prominent and knowledgeable people have shared their views on justice and what it means and how the state is involved in its administration. The likes of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke among others have written extensively on the concept of justice.

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Martin Luther King being among them. All of these great thinkers stated that there must be a wrong in need of repair to call for such drastic actions. Rawls, in The Justification of Civil Disobedience, talks of what makes these wrongs or unjust laws by talking about what creates a just law. His view of just was routed strongly in equality which means unjust laws would be something that by nature or in application deviates from the equal treatment of people. Because the government is often dictated by the will of the majority King and Rawls would agree that injustice effects the minority of a society heavily and unequally.

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John Rawls developed his theory of justice as an amalgamation of intuitionism and utilitarianism in order to form an acceptable, reasonable dominant paradigm that answered how a state should distribute its social primary goods fairly. While this theory is important in developing and understanding of political philosophy, its failure to be accepted as a dominant paradigm stems from its failure to adequately answer objections from both the political left and right. Rawlsian Justice is a theory of need-based justice through the approach of justice as fairness. In other words, Rawls says that all individuals should be in a position to achieve their basic needs. From this conception of justice, Rawls attempts to describe the principles of justice upon which the most basic structures of state and society should be based.

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