Distributive Justice: Rawls, Nozick and Singer

v Readings

Ø Distributive Justice

Ø Readings from Rawls, Nozick and Singer

v The Many Vessels Objection to Utilitarianism: slicing the utility pie

§ Maximizing is not sufficient for rightness

§ Maximizing is not necessary for rightness

Ø Rawls

§ Respect for Persons (Dostoyevsky and the Grand Inquisitor)

§ The Bias of Contingency

§ Social Contract: an intuition pump

· The Original Position behind the Veil of Ignorance

· Objections: What do we know? How do we choose?

§ Two Principles of Justice

· Equal rights to most extensive liberty

· The Difference Principle

Ø Nozick

§ Distributing and distribution: against “time-slice” account—against consequentialism

§ 3 Principles of holdings

· Acquisition

· Transfer

· Rectification

§ The Wilt Chamberlin Case

Ø Singer

§ We have an obligation to assist rather than merely not to interfere

§ The Case of Easy Rescue

§ Objections

· Taking Care of our Own

· Property Rights

· Population and the Ethics of Triage: contra Hardin