Exam 8: Justice

Rousseau says, "Man is born free; __________.

One of the most basic rights, according to Locke, is the right to own private property, and the most basic private property one can own is __________.

According to Hobbes, before people enter into the social contract, we are in what he called the "__________."

Hume replies that there is a need to distinguish between the utility of a __________ and the utility of an overall system.

Does a utilitarian description of the state necessarily compromise the rights of the individual? Mill didn't think so. How might rights be used to protect the individual from the "tyranny of the majority"? How could a utilitarian defend a robust conception of individual rights?

Mill goes on to offer a "__________," that individual liberty is to be considered inviolable except when other people are threatened with harm.

The oldest sense of the word justice is what philosophers called sovereign, or simply, "getting even."

Thomas Hobbes is generally credited with the formulation of the theory of the "social contract" for the establishment of governments and society.

Which of the following is the most influential conception of justice in modern times?

Which of the following argued that the right to private property was so basic that it preceded any social conventions or laws and existed quite independent of any government or state, that is, who penned the original entitlement theory?

Malcolm X was one of the leaders of the "Black Nationalist" movement of that era, and he pursued not just justice, but an independent and separate state for black people of all nations.

Mill was particularly concerned with protecting individuals against "the tyranny of the majority."

Write your own "state of nature" story. When and why does justice emerge? Does your society look like our own? If so, why? If not, what improvements have you made?

Rousseau argued that man was essentially evil.

By what mental faculty are we to choose the principles by which our society will be run, According to Rawls, we choose the principle by which our society will be run by our __________ faculty.

John Stuart Mill argued that no one should be deprived of his or her property that belongs to him or her by law. Consider the ways property comes into someone's possession: purchase, inheritance, or theft. Assuming someone procured property legally; trace it back to the first owner. Did that owner have the right to sell it? How did the first person ever come to own anything? Some would argue that everything began by theft. If so, how does anyone have a legitimate claim to anything today? Imagine, for example, you buy a house on an acre of land. At one time that land was occupied by the Native Americans. Did they own it first? Did anyone? Did anyone have the right to sell it away from them? After many sales do you "own" it? The study of property rights starts with very difficult philosophical questions of "ownership." Discuss.

Hobbes argued that people were motivated to become part of society for their mutual __________.

According to Nozick, how much room do individual rights leave for the state?

Hume wrote, "A single act of justice is frequently contrary to __________; and were it to stand alone, without being followed by other acts, may, in itself, be very prejudicial to society.

Which of the following is not a principal cause of quarrel, according to Hobbes?