LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND JUSTICE GONDA YUMITRO

LIBERTY Liberty is the ultimate moral ideal. Individuals have rights to life, liberty, and property that society must recognize. The purpose of government is to protect these rights of individuals from being violated by others by force or fraud. Except for this, individuals can pursue their own actions and welfare.

Hobbes – Leviathan, a free man, is he, that in those things, which by his strength and wit he is able to do, is not hindered to do what he has a will to – no normative For normative matter, the discussion on moral and legal rights become important Rights = claim, liberty, power, and immunity rights

For that reasons, Locke Criticize Hobbes by saying that where there is no law, the is no freedom – so that, no contradiction on civil liberty under government and natural liberty Locke’s Ethical Theory – as like Mill utilitarianism (civil rights are grounded on the general welfare) and Berlin’s ethical pluralism (civil rights are based on plural irreducible values that may conflict) Civil liberty is equivalent to the restriction of liberty He justified the people’s moral rights to revolt actively against unjust government – ex: in Americal revolution 1776

But in this case, Berlin also has quit similar understanding to Hobbes by explaining the concept of positive and negative liberty Negative Liberty is freedom from coercive interference and positive liberty is he has rights to choose act as his/her will. I wish my life and decision to depend on my self – not on external forces- I am the rational person

Mill said the the true justice is a higher kind of pleasure because human being are living in security Security is another name for civil and political liberty Harm cannot mean mere dislike or dislike, but rather requires a perceptible change of personal circumstances – depending on moral view point Through this ideas, he believed that true liberty only will be gain in constitutional democratic society

EQUALITY Equality of opportunity – What does equality of opportunity mean? Can we give everyone an equal opportunity. Rawls advocates a principle of fair equality of opportunity – ex: in career prospects Unequality in sometimes is not natural in manner – but systematical process – in this case state intervention is needed. But in term of talent, it doesnot matter – so he also reject the egalitarian principles – which oppose economic inequality

Liberalism is also concerned with equality: freedom is something all are equally entitled to. There is an intersection between the values of freedom and equality in liberal philosophy. So justice related to the distribution of rights and duties to the citizenry

Justice What is justice : generally similar to fairness Justice has to do with how human beings treat each other. Generally, if someone is born with a disease, we do not claim they have been treated unjustly. Justice is individualistic. Collectivism is generally considered unethical. I can’t collect your test grades, average them out and give everyone the same grade because some students deserve higher grades and some students deserve lower grades. There are individual differences within groups. Some people are skilled and some are unskilled. Some may be lazy and some may be hardworking, and so forth.

Firstly was found in Plato’s republic – when he established the true nature of justice – and go on the construct of ideal state. social class (philosopher, soldier, trader) – had more knowledge and emotion Aristoteles – concern on equality, proportionality and maintanance equilibrium in society. concervative views, - distributive justice, retributive justice and commulative justice

After renaissance, it has shifted from religious perspective toward the set principles to make life and business well regulated In politics – who get what, how and why, the lack of resources cause the issue of justice, not and a world of abundant resources Individual property holding are just if they are the consequence of fair transfer – based on the historical analysis – Procedural justice _ Nozick

Justice as equal treatment: Everyone should be treated equally. What does this mean? Students with good home lives vs. those with terrible home lives. Those with no breakfast vs. those with breakfast. Those that catch on quickly vs. those that don’t. Utilitarian method might say to spend more time with smart students. If a special needs child is placed in a separate class is the child being treated equally? It is hard to figure out in small cases? How in the world would you do it in society?

Rawls argues that he has a theory wherein he can provide the framework for a just society. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls states that each and every single rational person will use a maximin approach with regard to their decision-making strategies. The maximin rule states that all rational individuals will always avoid the worst possible outcome if there is a possibility of grave danger. Rawls claims this strategy would not be employed for every decision an individual would make but that it would certainly apply when the worst possible outcome is a lifetime of abject poverty, death, or a dire situation for future generations of your family. Rawls calls his justice distributive justice.

So that, Rawl has principles that, (1) each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with similar liberty to others (2) Inequality of economic should be arranged – the greatest benefit and fair equality and opportunity But many times, family Utilitarianism: justice is best served by taking that course of action which creates the greatest overall utility or the greatest sum of utility.