Economics Dictionary of Arguments

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Roles, philosophy: the expression role is usually used with an addition such as causal role, functional role, etc. It is signaled that a certain openness is required for a yet outstanding specification for a function within a system. In other words, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the object that performs the function. Linguistically, this is expressed by formulations like "Whatever plays the… role". An example from the philosophy of mind is the causal role of pain. See also functionalism.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

John Rawls on Roles - Dictionary of Arguments

I 96
Roles/social positions/society/Rawls: the roles in a community to be established will necessarily result in unequal opportunities for shaping. We use our two principles to prevent injustice:
I 61
1. everyone must have the right to fundamental freedom
2. inequalities must be managed in such a way that they are to everyone's advantage, different positions must in principle be capable of being held by everyone.
I 96
Positions: in most cases: 1. equal civil rights, 2. the position defined by income and prosperity. Representative members are then those who represent different levels of prosperity.
I 97
Roles: the >difference principle helps us to establish representative roles for income classes. Problem: the least privileged groups. Here we have to proceed arbitrarily, for example accepting unskilled workers. Or people who have less than half of the median income at their disposal(1).
I 99
In cases of conflict, the interests of a more general viewpoint outweigh the interests of a more individual position. This also applies, for example, when the advantages and disadvantages of free trade are weighed against protectionism.
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I 100
The relevant social positions then specify the general standpoint from which the two principles of justice are judged on the basic structure ((s) the initial state of a society to be established, in which the roles are not yet distributed according to Rawls). The principles ensure that no one benefits from natural coincidences except for the benefit of others.


(1) See M. J. Bowman about the Fuchs criterion in "Poverty in an Affluent Socienty", in: Contemporary Economic Issues, ed. N. W. Chamberlain, Homewood, Illinois, 1969.


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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Rawl I
J. Rawls
A Theory of Justice: Original Edition Oxford 2005


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