Ethics: Justice

BACKGROUND

Even tiny children seem to have no difficulty grasping the fundamental concept of justice. Children at play are often heard accusing each other of not being fair, and a common manifestation of sibling rivalry is a child's complaint that the parent's decision on some point at issue between the siblings is "not fair". Children seem to expect fairness from an adult, even when the adult has made no assertion of any intention to be fair. Perhaps psychologists could explain this. For our purposes, we need only observe that children of all ages find justice an attractive topic of discussion.

DIALOGUE

(Charlotte 10, Owen 14)

Is it good to be fair?

Charlotte: Of course.

Why?

Charlotte: If you're not fair to people they won't be fair to you.

What if it's someone you will never see again? He is moving to another country. If you are not fair to him, he'll never be able to do anything to you.

Owen: You should still be fair. There will be other people coming from his new country to your country.

So you think he might tell them I was unfair to him and they might pay me back.

Owen: No not really. It's too difficult to keep track of who's fair and who isn't. It's better if everyone is fair to everyone else.

You mean if everyone agrees to be fair to each other then the world will work better?

Charlotte: Yes. People won't be tricking each other all the time.

But the world would work better for me if everyone else was fair and I wasn't.

Charlotte: That wouldn't be fair! Anyway, people wouldn't be fair to you if they knew.

I wouldn't tell them. Anyway, why should I be fair? Nobody ever asked me how I wanted the world to be set up. I never agreed that I would be fair. If anyone asked, I would say that you shouldn't have to pay taxes unless you earn more than I do.

Owen: It's easy to say that now. But what if someone asked you as soon as you were born, before you knew whether you would be lucky in earning a lot of money or not?

Good point. If people have opinions on how the world should be set up, they should have to express them before they know their own place in the world, shouldn't they. Otherwise they will just recommend what suits them. A philosopher who has given these things a lot of thought [Rawls; see comment.] agrees with Owen.

COMMENT

This introduces the theory of justice. Rawls suggested that in seeking the basic structure of a just society we should imagine rational people who are asked to choose how the world should be run. But these people are not to know what their own role in the world would be. They do not know whether they will be rich or poor, clever or stupid, healthy or sick. In other words, they are to make their choice screened by a "veil of ignorance".

Rawls went on to argue that rational people placed in that position would enunciate two basic principles of justice: 1. That each person should be as free as possible provided this does not interfere with anyone else's freedom; and 2. That inequalities are only fair if they are advantageous to people who are worst off. See Rawls' treatise A Theory of Justice, or Simmonds' more accessible introduction Central Issues in Jurisprudence.

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