What is Justice?: What is Justice?
From the day they are born, people's chances in life differ. Some inherit money, social status, and good health; others are given far less. Justice, for some, is about redistributing the benefits and burdens, and providing an equality of opportunity...
What Justifies the State?: John Rawl's Theory of Justice
In the early 1970s John Rawls uses the tradition of social contract as the basis for creating an imagined group that must decide on the rules of justice behind a "veil of ignorance." It is Rawls' contention that people will generate just rules if fo...
What Justifies the State?: Call for Reasoned Public Debate, A
Communitarians have been accused of being conservative, of attempting to maintain a way of life that includes discrimination against women and minorities. For communitarians, such problems can be solved by reasoned public debate, as long as the subj...
What Justifies the State?: Issues That Separate Liberals and Communitarians
Emphasis on the common good places communitarians in direct conflict with liberals who claim the state must leave people free to pursue their own values. Michael Sandel, Ronald Dworkin, and Charles Taylor "debate" the issue in a fascinating exchange...
Is Morality Relative?: Is Morality Relative?
People and cultures differ so widely that many philosophers wonder if there are any universal standards, even in morality. Over the past few decades, as most Western countries have experienced an increase in cultural diversity, we become aware that ...