Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Justice: Justice can be understood as the fair and impartial treatment of all people. It is often associated with the law. Some key elements are fairnes, equality, proportionality, accountability. See also Law, Rights, Equality, Impartiality._____________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. | |||
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Peter Singer on Justice - Dictionary of Arguments
Otteson I 21 Justice/SingerVsSmith, Adam/Peter Singer/Otteson: The objection to Smith that social justice raises is that his account ofjustice is too thin because it does not suffciently incorporate our obligations to others who need our help. Thought experiment: The philosopher Peter Singer (2009)(1), for example, gives us the following thought experiment. Imagine you are on your way to an important job interview. You pass by a man-made fountain and see a small child drowning in it. It is not your child, and you did not put the child in the water; but you realize that if you do not wade in to save the child, the child will drown. a) Suppose that if you do save the child, you ruin your shoes, miss your interview, and do not get your job. Singer's question: should you save the child? The obvious answer is yes, you should save the child. That's the easy part. b) The hard part is: What should we say about a person who decided not to save the child? How should we characterize his immoral inaction? Beneficence /Smith: On Smith's distinction between justice and beneficence, all we could say is that such a person was insuffciently beneficent. >Charity/Adam Smith, >Justice/Adam Smith. Otteson I 22 SingerVsSmith, Adam: But, Singer argues, that seems too weak. Should we not also be able to say that the person failed in justice - in other words, acted unjustly? The reason to call for the stronger condemnation of "injustice" is that it might also license punishment. Remember, on Smith's account, we cannot coerce beneficence. We can enforce the rules of justice, coercively if necessary, and we can punish injustice - again, coercively if necessary. >Coercion. Beneficence/Adam Smith: But Smith believes that beneficence must be "free," which entails not only that beneficent action cannot be coerced but also that failure to act beneficently may not be (coercively) punished. >Punishment. Problem: So Smith would not allow us to punish the person who fails to rescue the drowning child. Similarly, Smith would apparently also not allow us to punish people for not helping others in other situations when they could and when those others desire or even need their help. For that reason, Singer, as well as many other thinkers, criticize Smith's account for being insuffcient, for debarring important mechanisms for society to provide aid to people when private, voluntary actions are insuffcient. Otteson I 23 Adam SmithVsSinger/Otteson: Based on the account Smith gives, we can guess that, were he alive to respond, he would suggest that the charge of "insuffcient beneficence" is not as weak as Singer might suppose. Smith's argument would preclude only initiating coercive punishment against the person - no fines, no jail time. Are the actions that Smith allows us enough? Smith seems to believe that in most cases it is. Public condemnation, and the consciousness of being judged negatively by others, are, Smith believes, powerful motivating factors for human behavior. "Nature," Smith writes, "has endowed [humankin], not only with a desire of being approved of, but with a desire of being what ought to be approved of; or of being what he himself approves ofin other men" (TMS(2): 117). For the person who has become cognizant that his actions have not only received blame but are actually blameworthy, the guilt can be debilitating: "These natural pangs of an affrighted conscience are the daemons, the avenging furies, which, in this life, haunt the guilty, which allow them neither quiet nor repose, which often drive them to despair and distraction" (TMS(2): 118). So strong is our desire for mutual sympathy of sentiments that we become, Smith says, "mortified" when we realize others do not approve of our conduct (TMS(2): 14, 60, 116). Thin justice/SmithVsSinger: Still, is this mortification suffciently reliable for us to count on in ensuring proper beneficent conduct? Or should we have public institutions that will enforce beneficence, coercively if necessary, in addition to enforcing justice? Smith has a few more reasons to offer in support of his "thin" account of justice, to which we will return in later chapters when we take up the discussion of what Smith believes is the proper role of government. Government/solution/Adam Smith: (…) government may be tasked with enforcing justice, but (…) acting with and enforcing proper beneficence must be left to individuals and private parties. >Charity/Adam Smith, >Justice/Adam Smith. 1. Singer, Peter (2009). The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty. Random House. 2. Smith, Adam (1982) [1759]. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie, eds. Liberty Fund._____________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. |
SingerP I Peter Singer Practical Ethics (Third Edition) Cambridge 2011 SingerP II P. Singer The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically. New Haven 2015 Otteson I James R. Otteson The Essential Adam Smith Vancouver: Fraser Institute. 2018 |
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