...The Veil of Ignorance The concept of justice is one that most people understand, but it is difficult to define. John Rawls give his take on its true meaning in his work, “A Theory of Justice”. In an attempt to explain what justice really is, Rawls uses what he calls a ‘veil of ignorance’. The function of the veil is to make it so that all members of a just society have no knowledge of their own identity, allowing true fairness and equality. Although the veil of ignorance is central to Rawls theory of justice, I believe that it is unrealistic and cannot be applied to real life. Under the veil of ignorance, Rawls thinks that all members of a society would agree to laws that are completely fair. If no one knows their wealth, class, or abilities, then each member would agree to the same rules. He states, “They do not know how the various alternatives will affect their particular case and they are obliged to evaluate principles solely on the basis of general consideration.”(Rawls 118) The veil is a completely hypothetical concept that Rawls uses to explain what justice means. I do agree that under this veil, the laws agreed upon would allow each person the same advantages or disadvantages. However, this veil of ignorance cannot be applied to reality because no such situation has ever existed. Each person has characteristics that cannot be taken away, so each person has a unique identity. No matter how fair a group of individuals tries to be, they will each work to benefit themselves...
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...#2) Rawls’ original position and the veil of ignorance play a part with each other and focus on how a state will ultimately end up if people decide to form a social contract. Considering there are differences between people, such as social status, education, endurance, sex, race, etc…, Rawls says to imagine a veil of ignorance so decisions are not influenced from a place of self-interest. When individual persons part of a society, put a veil of ignorance each individual will disregard and eliminate bias notions amongst each other in that society including their own self. “Let us assume, to fix ideas, that society is a more or less self-sufficient association of persons who in their relations to one another recognize certain rules of conduct as binding and who for the most part act in accordance with them.” (Nozick, XB pg. 94-95 Para. 5) Rawls is assuming here that a society put aside their differences and acts accordingly by way of tacit acknowledgement concerning rules of conduct that connect them to each other. The veil of ignorance is a significant part of Rawls’ original position. This gives Rawls’ concept of original position because there are no biases or judgmental decisions made and everyone in that society seeks the benefit of each other. Original position is then assumed since everyone in the supposed society is equal and has no bias opinions due to the veil of ignorance. Even though the original position is assumed and “…these rules specify a system of cooperation...
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...long been associated with social improvement. The two forms of utilitarianism are act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism, utilitarianism in its most basic version, states that we must calculate what the consequences are of a particular act in a particular situation, and what it will be for all those affected. And, if its consequences bring more total good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should inform. Rule utilitarianism maintains that the utilitarian standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole. The rule utilitarian asks what moral code, or set of morals, a society should adopt to maximize happiness. The principles that make up that code would then be the basis for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions. Same as any other theory, these theories can be thought to contain flaws- i.e. not being able to predict the future and this uncertainty can lead to unexpected results making the utilitarian look unethical as time passes because his choice did not benefit the most people as he predicted. What do economists mean by the “declining marginal utility of money?” In economics, marginal utility can be defined as a change in total satisfaction derived from the purchase of one additional or incremental unit of a specific good or service, all else being equal. The concept of...
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...Name Professor Course Date Why does Mills think that Utilitarianism provides the foundation for Justice and why does Rawls reject it? Introduction The concept of utilitarianism is one that has engulfed the philosophical arena with an obscene number of arguments that support and/or criticize it. Generally, utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics that defines an action as one that ensures maximum utility. Other schools of thought would like to put it as the concept of “maximizing happiness while reducing suffering” (Mills 3).In as much as utilitarianism has continued to receive applause from people and the political scene, other divergent scholars has come up with other theories that seek to compromise the philosophies under which the concept of utilitarianism operates. As a result, utilitarianism has become subject to contradictions from other theories in the field of ethics. The thinking class in other fields of utilitarianism characterizes in as a quantitative yet reductionist approach to ethics (Mills 3). Over time, the concept of utilitarianism has received ideological threats from; deontological ethics which does not assign moral worth to an action based on its consequences, virtue ethics that solely deals with action and habits that results to happiness, pragmatic ethics and other forms of ethics that backs the idea of consequentialism. In a nut shell, the concept of utilitarianism as defined by political philosophers and in relation to justice is becoming...
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...Governance and management Quality can be enhanced by better management practices, transparency in the use of resources, and accountability mechanisms to communities and other stakeholders. Mechanisms for promoting ownership and accountability through participatory planning deserve increased attention. Issues of governance go beyond ensuring better management of the public sector. They include a concern for increasing ownership by different stakeholders at different levels. One strand of the research focuses on centralization/decentralization to answer questions about what responsibilities within education systems (such as recruitment of teachers, control of budgets, design of curricula) are most appropriately located at national, provincial, district and/or school levels in countries of different sizes and cultures. The research also takes into consideration the distribution of responsibilities within particular levels, e.g. at the national level between national ministries of basic education, higher education, finance, planning, etc. A second strand focuses on management of skills development and training. Expansion of opportunities for young people who have completed basic education does not imply exclusive attention to traditional models of formal education. Attention is given to alternative models and to non-formal modes which can serve out-of-school youths. Learners in modes of post-basic education pay attention to the demands of the labour market. This requires...
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...Rawls vs. Nozick In this essay I will explain the main theories Rawls and Nozick have on distributive justice and the role of the government in economic life, I will analyze and compare them and eventually indicate my preference. I will start with John Rawls and his thoughts in a theory of justice. Rawls strive to determine how we can make a society as just as possible. Rawls derives two principles; liberty principle and the difference principle. It is the latter I am going to analyze more closely. He also gives a theoretical device that he calls “the original position” and “the veil of ignorance” this device is ment to help us in the way that we picture our self behind a veil. We do not know the basic things about ourselves like our sex, age, financial status etc. This device is to help us be totally neutral in the sense that we do not know our status in society. After putting our self in a status quo if you will, we can now decide on what us just for the whole society. Rawls derives then the difference principle; to put this is Rawls own word the difference principle is: “Then the difference principle is a strongly egalitarian conception in the sense that unless there is a distribution that makes both persons better off an equal distribution is to be preferred.”(Rawls - theory of justice. 84/85) So in other words, the inequalities in a society can only be justified if it benefits the person that is least off. This is the main subject the debate between nozick and...
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...OUTLINE CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION A. Introductory Statement B. Statement of the Problem C. Significance of the Study D. Theoretical Framework E. Scope and Limitation F. Review of Related Literature CHAPTER TWO: JOHN RAWLS PHILOSOPHY A. Biography of John Rawls CHAPTER THREE: PHILIPPINE TAXATION A. Concept of Taxation B. Nature of Taxation and Its purpose C. Concept of Income Taxation D. Purpose of Taxation E. Current Uses of Taxation CHAPTER FOUR: SOCIAL JUSTICE IN TAXATION A. Social Justice B. Principles of Justice C. Well Ordered Society D. Original Position E. Veil of Ignorance F. Civil Disobedience CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION A. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT The works of John Rawls was basically centered on justice as depicted on his work “Theory of Justice” and “Political Liberalism. John Rawls is considered to be one of the most influential philosophers during his time as he specialized in the concept of justice and fairness as a tool for attaining social justice in the society. His works received various criticisms since it may be viewed as unrealistic but though it may be criticized, his works are one of the influential and most bought book and already translated in various language to be used as curriculum in philosophy classes. Rawls differentiate the concept of justice and fairness as he tried to show that the idea of justice is fairness and...
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...culture is the language. Language has been identified as “the symbolic representation of a people, since it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds, as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking.” (Brown cited by Jiang) The importance of language therefore suggests the significance of preserving the cultural language to better protect the minority cultures.; Hhowever the insignificant number of users for the minority language oftentimes leads the majority culture to overlook the language, thereby undermining the culture’s security. In Given Rawls’ theory on justice, unequal product contingencies or morally arbitrary conditions, including minority cultures, are not justified. Explain why minority culture is morally arbitrary. He also “claims that we should have the social conditions needed to intelligently decide for ourselves what is valuable in life.” (Kymlicka 164) These decisions however are made from examining “definite ideals and forms of life that have been developed and tested...
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...Introduction: This paper addresses the question how does the law impact the society and business and does this law really work. To attend to these questions, the essay is organized in two sections. In the first section, I analyze the relationship between the 1933 Act and the society by using the concept of libertarianism and the “vail of ignorance” of Immanuel Kant. In the second section, I examine the Securities Act of 1933 by using the accounting skill to argue that 1933 Act did not prevent the inside trading and financial statement manipulation. History of Act: public policy prescription: In the absence of the securities laws, a business firm could basically decide the stock price of their privately-owned company without any governmental supervision and, thus, be free to act with impunity in defrauding both the company and the public. This is the reason the stock price crashed down on “black Friday”. Securities Act of 1933 is in ascertaining that a firm’s disclosure is as accurate as possible, which makes the securities market more fair and transparent in its effort to control fraud perpetrated by unscrupulous business owners on a gullible public marketplace. Market failure: Business’ goal is always for the greatest profits, by taking the advantage of whatever ways they can use, such as fraud. In 1929, business people took the advantage of the absence of the securities laws to defrauding both the company and the public. Trace its implementation: Securities Act of 1933...
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...tutorials visit www.tutorialrank.com • Reflect on the consistency of your own ethical decision making. • Write a 350- to 700-word ethical manifesto that describes your personal approach to moral decision making and how you communicate ethically. • Summarize the major models of ethical decision making. • Include which models of ethical decision making are part of your manifesto. Provide rationale as to why you choose to include or why you do not choose to include models. • Select one of the following models of ethical decision making: o Golden mean (Aristotle) o Categorical Imperative (Kant) o Utilitarianism (Mill) o Veil of Ignorance (Rawls) o Persons as Ends (Judeo-Christian) • Use the philosophical principles from the ethical decision-making model selected to illustrate and apply it to your a real world communication example. • Explain how the model you have chosen is more effective than at least three of the other listed models above. • Format your manifesto consistent with APA guidelines ----------------------------------------------------------------- COM 450 Week 2 Individual Assignment Social Justice vs. Objective Reporting Paper (UOP) For more course tutorials visit www.tutorialrank.com • Prepare...
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... Tyranny- A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority. Absolutism – political system: a political system in which the power of a ruler is unchecked and absolute theory of objective values: a philosophical theory in which values such as truth or morality are absolute and not conditional upon human perception something absolute: a standard, principle, or theory that is absolute Utilitarianism: ethical doctrine of greatest good: the ethical doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the criterion of the virtue of action doctrine based on value of usefulness: the doctrine that the value of an action or an object lies in usefulness utilitarian quality: the quality of being designed primarily for practical use rather than beauty Libertarianism: advocate of individual responsibility: somebody who believes in the doctrine of free will advocate of individual freedom: somebody who believes in the principle that people should have complete freedom of thought and action Categorical Imperative: Kantian moral law: according to the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, an unconditional moral law applying to all rational beings and independent of all personal desires and motives Communism: Class less political system: the political theory or system in which all property and wealth is owned in a classless society by all the members of that society Socialism:...
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...5.11.2009 Chapter 4 Stakeholders, Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility McGraw-Hill/Irwin Principles of Management © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. 4-3 4-4 Learning Objectives 1. Identify stakeholders in an organization. 2. Describe the most common types of ethical issues managers confront. 3. Explain how managers can incorporate ethical factors into their decision making. 4. Outline the main segments for and against corporate social responsibility. 5. Explain what managers can do to behave in a socially responsible manner. Stakeholders Employees Customers The Firm Creditors Suppliers Distributors Shareholders Local communities Evaluating Stakeholders Claims Identify Stakeholders Identify stakeholders interests and concerns Identify claims stakeholders place on the organization 4-5 4-6 Business Ethics •Accepted principles of right or wrong governing the conduct of businesspeople. •Principles of right and wrong are codified into laws Tort law Contract law Intellectual property law Antitrust law Securities law Take actions, starting with those that address the claims of the most important stakeholders Identify actions to satisfy claims of various stakeholders Weight stakeholders by their importance to the firm •Many actions, although legal, may not seem ethical 1 5.11.2009 4-7 Ethics in Management Ethical Rights of Stakeholders • Shareholders –right to timely and accurate...
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...1. What does the term ethics mean to you? Do you see a difference between ethics and morality? Explain your answer. When it comes to ethics in business, many companies are famous for their downfall due to poor ethics. A recent example of this is Enron and the accounting fraud that took place. The term ethics can have multiple meanings, and can often be thought of as morality. To me, the definition of ethics is the ability to judge what is right or wrong concerning human behavior. Human behavior includes individuals, and also groups of people or organizations. As described in the textbook, the term ethics and morals can be used interchangeably. However, the definition of morality at least to me, is culturally acceptable practices that have been passed down through the generations. Being that scholars are using the two terms interchangeably as time passes, it is completely understandable as to why this is happening, as the two definitions are very similar in character. Ethics being the judgment of right and wrong versus a passed down culturally acceptable practice is how the two definitions are different. Because of this reason, I feel that the two are not exactly the same and should not be used interchangeably. There are five approaches to ethics and how they are viewed in the world. The first of these approaches is Utilitarianism. This approach is based upon the basis that something should be done with the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Kant’s Categorical...
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...The term “fair” has many different connotations depending on whom is asked. As a kid growing up in the working middle class I learned that “fairness” is earning something that you worked for, not having something handed to you. Society is founded on the wants and needs of the people, but mostly the wants. The society in this hypothetical world that author John Rawls imagines can easily be defined as a communist and utilitarian society. In the Theory of Justice, John Rawls theoretically explains a society that would be ideal for the majority of the population. According to him, the theory of justice will only be adapted by society if it “guarantees the right of each person to have the most extensive basic liberty compatible with the liberty...
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...presupposes both that justice is constituted by such-and-such and that justice is one of the things to be promoted does not explain why the components of justice are important.” (para. 12). This paper is a reflection of Team’s D thoughts about Chapter 5, “Consequentialism or Justice.” The consequentialism theory is a decision of an individual who will cause a greater good for all. An individual should take the complete relating information and consider every possible option that will provide a decision that will provide every person with greater good. The decision should not affect just one person, or a small group, but each client. At a sleepover party, a rule of not playing with fire should not be set for just one child. The rule should be set for every child in the house because fire is harmful. Every child will benefit from the rule. Distributive justice is the assistance that every human has an equal chance. It provides an ability to help make sure every person has goods equal to others, for the greater good. The goods are not meant to be materialistic, they are meant to be for safety and health for healthy living. The theory intersects with Tamara’s personal value because where Tamara lives, she sees a community that lives by social justice. Many in the neighborhood make informal contracts among each other and use the difference principle because he or she “feels” that he or she is in a worse predicament. An example, a man will sell drugs and rob another person...
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