The Principle of Solidarity : a Restatement of John Rawls' Law Of

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Principle of Solidarity : a Restatement of John Rawls' Law Of DISSERTATION: THE PRINCIPLE OF SOLIDARITY: A RESTATEMENT OF JOHN RAWLS´ LAW OF PEOPLES ZUR ERLANGUNG DES AKADEMISCHEN GRADES DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIAE (DR. PHIL) VON MILICA TRIFUNOVIĆ EINGEREICHT IM DEZEMBER 2011. AN DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN FAKULTÄT I DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN PRÄSIDENT DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN: PROF. DR. JAN-HENDRIK OLBERTZ DEKAN: PROF. MICHAEL SEADLE GUTACHTER: 1. PROF. DR. VOLKER GERHARDT 2. PROF. DR. WULF KELLERWESSEL TAG DER MÜNDLICHEN PRÜFUNG: 20. JUNI 2012. 1 CONTENT CHAPTER ONE.............................................................................................................................................5 Instead of Introduction: Global Justice Debate- Conceptions and Misconceptions........................................5 1. Global Justice Debate – Conceptions and Misconceptions............................................................5 1.1. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSES....................................................................................................6 1.1.1. Aristotelian Paradigm................................................................................................7 1.1.2. Rawlsian Paradigm ...................................................................................................9 1.1.3. Aristotelian and Rawlsian Paradigm in A Global Context .......................................13 1.2. METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS ...........................................................................................21 1.2.1. Political Constructivism in a Global Context............................................................22 1.2.2. Cosmopolitan Constructivism .................................................................................29 1.3. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................33 1.4. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................36 CHAPTER TWO..........................................................................................................................................37 Rawls’ The Law of Peoples: Structure, Substance, Function ......................................................................37 2.1. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS.........................................................................................38 2.2. IDEAL THEORY IN RAWLS.................................................................................................44 2.2.1. Ideal Theory for a Domestic Society .......................................................................44 2.2.2. Global Ideal Theory.................................................................................................47 2.2.3. Problems with Ideal Theory ....................................................................................49 2.3. NONIDEAL THEORY IN RAWLS...........................................................................................50 2.3.1. Normative Nonideal Theory for a Domestic Case .....................................................50 2.3.2. Normative Nonideal Theory for International Relations ..........................................53 2.3.3. Problems with Nonideal Theory.................................................................................55 2.4. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................56 CHAPTER THREE ......................................................................................................................................57 The Peoples ................................................................................................................................................57 3.1 The Law and the Politics of ´the Peoples´ – Historical Aspect......................................................58 3.1.1. The Concept of Self-Determination.........................................................................61 3.1.2. Common Culture.....................................................................................................64 2 3.1.3. State Cooperation ...................................................................................................65 3.1.4. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................68 3.2. THE IDEA OF PEOPLES IN RAWLS’ “THE LAW OF PEOPLES”..................................................70 3.2.1. Liberal Peoples .......................................................................................................78 3.2.2. Decent Hierarchical Peoples...................................................................................82 3.2.3. Society of Peoples .....................................................................................................84 3.3. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................88 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................................91 The Principles of the Law of Peoples...........................................................................................................91 4.1. PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF NATIONS IN “A THEORY OF JUSTICE” .......................................93 4.2. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF PEOPLES IN “THE LAW OF PEOPLES” ................................94 4.2.1. Freedom and Independence......................................................................................96 4.2.2. Treaties and Undertakings.........................................................................................99 4.2.3. Equality ....................................................................................................................101 4.2.4. Non-intervention ......................................................................................................103 4.2.5. Self- defense............................................................................................................108 4.2.6. Human Rights ..........................................................................................................112 4.2.7. Conduct of War ........................................................................................................118 4.2.8. Assistance ...............................................................................................................121 4.3. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................126 CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................................................128 The Principles of The Law of Peoples: A Restatement..............................................................................128 5.1. ORIGINAL POSITION AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF JUSTICE.............................................129 5.2. PRESENTATION OF THE ALTERNATIVES...........................................................................136 5.3. ARGUMENT BY COMPARISON..........................................................................................149 CHAPTER SIX...........................................................................................................................................153 Non-Paternalistic Assistance: Principle of Solidarity..................................................................................153 6.1. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF SOLIDARITY .........................................................................154 6.1.1. Paternalism ...........................................................................................................156 6.1.2. The Counterfactuals..............................................................................................160 3 6.1.3. Issue –Oriented Assistance ..................................................................................163 6.2. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SOLIDARITY ............................................................................164 6.3. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................167 CHAPTER SEVEN ....................................................................................................................................169 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................169 APPENDIX ...............................................................................................................................................174 The Concept of Solidarity- Historical Approach .........................................................................................174 1. Solidarity as a Legal Obligation ...........................................................................................175 2. Solidarity in Religious Teachings..........................................................................................176 3. Solidarity in Sociology and Philosophy ..................................................................................179 3.1. Solidarity as a Principle of Social Cohesion ...............................................................179 3.2.Solidarity and Philosophy ............................................................................................180
Recommended publications
  • Social Justice in an Open World – the Role Of
    E c o n o m i c & Social Affairs The International Forum for Social Development Social Justice in an Open World The Role of the United Nations Sales No. E.06.IV.2 ISBN 92-1-130249-5 05-62917—January 2006—2,000 United Nations ST/ESA/305 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS Division for Social Policy and Development The International Forum for Social Development Social Justice in an Open World The Role of the United Nations asdf United Nations New York, 2006 DESA The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environ- mental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint course of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises inter- ested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks devel- oped in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities. Note The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the mate- rial do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of its frontiers.
    [Show full text]
  • John Rawls' Theory of Justice As Fairness
    ANDREAS FOLLESDAL 20121025 John Rawls' Theory of Justice as Fairness Approximately as appears in Guttorm Floistad, ed. Philosophy of Justice, Contemporary Philosophy, Springer 2014, 311-328 When do citizens have a moral duty to obey the government and support the institutions of society?1 This question is central to political philosophy. One of the 20 century's main response was John Rawls' theory of justice, "Justice as fairness", in the book A Theory of Justice, published 1971. The book Justice as Fairness was an improved and shorter presentation of Rawls' theory, published 2001 with editorial support by Erin Kelly, one of his former students. When asked how rights, duties, benefits and burdens should be distributed, the ideals of freedom and equality often conflict with each other. In domestic politics we often see such conflicts between calls for more individual freedoms and schemes for universal, egalitarian welfare arrangements. It is such conflict between liberty and equality that Rawls attempts to reconcile with his theory of justice. There are three main steps in Rawls' theory of justice. He assumes certain features characteristic of free societies, as well as some specific ideas about how society and people should be understood. Rawls believes that even people with different beliefs can agree with some principles to resolve basic conflicts over the distributional effects of social institutions. Secondly, he draws on the contract theory tradition in political philosophy, arguing that consent in some sense is necessary for the legitimate exercise of state power. Based on the requirement of consent, in a third step Rawls presents certain principles for a just society that citizens should be expected to support.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples Author(S): by Kok‐Chor Tan Source: Ethics, Vol
    Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples Author(s): by Kok‐Chor Tan Source: Ethics, Vol. 108, No. 2 (January 1998), pp. 276-295 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/233805 . Accessed: 10/12/2013 22:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ethics. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.64.99.141 on Tue, 10 Dec 2013 22:34:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples* Kok-Chor Tan How should a liberal state respond to nonliberal ones? Should it refrain from challenging their nonconformity with liberal principles? Or should it criticize and even challenge their nonliberal political institutions and practices? In ``The Law of Peoples,'' 1 John Rawls argues that while tyran- nical regimes, namely, states which are warlike and/or abusive of the ba- sic rights of their own citizens, do not fall within the limits of liberal tol- eration, nonliberal but peaceful and well-ordered states, what he refers to as ``well-ordered hierarchical societies'' (WHSs), meet the conditions for liberal toleration.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Defining an Open Future
    Re-defining an Open Future The Child’s Right to an Open Future revisited from a Virtue-Ethics perspective Jenny Murdoch Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MA by Research, March 2014. There is much philosophical ambiguity about the concept of autonomy and, relatedly, about what it might mean to provide children with an open (or autonomous) future. This ambiguity leads to controversy about whether an agent’s right of self- determination can be violated during childhood. By supplementing the deontological argument for the child’s right to an open future with ideas from Virtue Ethics, I hope to illustrate the importance of autonomy, not just for well-being but also, for genuine ethical understanding. Consequently, I hope to provide a more comprehensive and satisfying account of the kind of autonomous ethical understanding that we ought to nurture in children. The kind of ethical understanding that I have in mind must include a conception of ethical life that is reflective, personally motivated, and which is able to include everything that might matter to human beings. Jenny Murdoch 2 Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 I. The Deontological Argument for the Child’s Right to an Open Future ................................. 6 Rights-in-Trust & The Child’s Right to an Open Future ......................................................... 6 The Paradoxes
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls Raphael Cohen-Almagor
    1 On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls Raphael Cohen-Almagor Ethics, Medicine and Public Health (Available online 22 November 2017). Abstract This article aims to trace back some of the theoretical foundations of medical ethics that stem from the philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and John Rawls. The four philosophers had in mind rational and autonomous human beings who are able to decide their destiny, who pave for themselves the path for their own happiness. It is argued that their philosophies have influenced the field of medical ethics as they crafted some very important principles of the field. I discuss the concept of autonomy according to Kant and JS Mill, Kant’s concepts of dignity, benevolence and beneficence, Mill’s Harm Principle (nonmaleficence), the concept of justice according to Aristotle, Mill and Rawls, and Aristotle’s concept of responsibility. Key words: Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, autonomy, beneficence, benevolence, dignity, justice, nonmaleficence, responsibility, John Rawls Introduction What are the philosophical foundations of medical ethics? The term ethics is derived from Greek. ἦθος: Noun meaning 'character' or 'disposition'. It is used in Aristotle to denote those aspects of one's character that, through appropriate moral training, develop into virtues. ἦθος is related to the adjective ἠθικός denoting someone or something that relates to disposition, e.g., a philosophical study on character.[1] 2 Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society. It involves developing, systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behaviour. The Hippocratic Oath (c.
    [Show full text]
  • Korsgaard.John Rawls's Theory of the Good
    John Rawls’s Theory of the Good Christine M. Korsgaard I. Introduction In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls works out a theory of the good, with a view to establishing three conclusions important to his theory of justice. The first is that his chosen unit of distribution, primary goods, are indeed good, and good in the way he defines them to be— they are things that citizens have reason to want no matter what else they want. The second is that it is good-for a person to be a just person, at least if the person lives in a well-ordered society, one that is effectively regulated by a publicly accepted conception of justice.1 Importantly, Rawls, like Plato before him, aims to show, not that being a just person promotes our interests independently defined, but that being a just person is good as an end, a good thing to be for its own sake. And the third is that a just society in Rawls’s sense is also a good society for its citizens to live in—again, not because it promotes our given aims, but for its own sake. Those last two claims—that a just society is good-for its citizens and that it is good to be a just person if you live in one, are needed in order to establish what Rawls call “congruence,” the harmony of the right and the good.2 That in turn is necessary to show that a society under Rawls’s conception of justice would be, as he calls it “stable”: that is, it would generate its own support, in the sense that those who lived under the Rawlsian system of justice would find reason 1 I have hyphenated good-for (and bad-for) since one of the issues treated in this essay will be the distinctness of, the relations between, the idea of “good” and the idea of “good-for.” 2 Rawls, A Theory of Justice.
    [Show full text]
  • Moral Theories Course Leader
    PHIL 101: Conceptual Foundations of Bioethics: Moral Theories Course Leader: Stavroula Tsinorema Semester: 1st (7 ECTS) Course Type: Required Objectives: The aims of this course unit are (a) to bring students in contact with the theoretical basis of Bioethics, through training in the methodologies and analytical tools of moral reasoning, (b) to provide them with the basic categories which show the conceptual links between the frameworks of moral philosophy and normative bioethical reasoning, (c) to equip them with the appropriate theoretical frameworks in order to be able to investigate critically and, where possible, to resolve specific moral problems deriving in biomedical research, its application in clinical contexts, health care and environmental policy. The overall aim is to enable students to develop core skills for the conduct of normative analysis and reasoning in Bioethics. Content: The normative resources for moral argument and justification in Bioethics are found in moral philosophy and philosophical theories of ethics. This course unit will survey some of the principle philosophical approaches in addressing a number of bioethical controversies and bring appropriate perspectives from ethical theories to bear on case studies in Bioethics. Topics include: 1) Philosophical ethics and its relation to Bioethics. 2) Classical approaches. Ethics and metaphysics. Ontological approaches to ethics. 3) Modern classical approaches to ethics. Theories of Scottish Enlightenment. Moral sentiments and the ethics of work: David Hume and Adam Smith. 4) Immanuel Kant: The ethics of form. 5) Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism. 6) Contemporary moral theories: - Contractarian and constructivist theories. John Rawls, Jurgen Habermas, Onora O’ Neill Postgraduate Prospectus 17 - Virtue ethics, ethics of care, feminism, communitarianism 7) Theories of a deflatory kind and moral scepticism.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Dignity in Contemporary Law and in the Transnational Discourse Luís Roberto Barroso
    Boston College International and Comparative Law Review Volume 35 | Issue 2 Article 2 5-1-2012 Here, There, and Everywhere: Human Dignity in Contemporary Law and in the Transnational Discourse Luís Roberto Barroso Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/iclr Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the Human Rights Law Commons Recommended Citation Luís R. Barroso, Here, There, and Everywhere: Human Dignity in Contemporary Law and in the Transnational Discourse, 35 B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 331 (2012), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/iclr/vol35/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College International and Comparative Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE: HUMAN DIGNITY IN CONTEMPORARY LAW AND IN THE TRANSNATIONAL DISCOURSE Luís Roberto Barroso* Abstract: Over the past several decades, human dignity has become an omnipresent idea in contemporary law. This Article surveys the use of human dignity by domestic and international courts and describes the concept’s growing role in the transnational discourse, with special atten- tion paid to the case law of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Article examines the legal nature of human dignity, finding it to be a constitutional princi- ple rather than a freestanding fundamental right, and develops a unifying and universal identity for the concept. At its core, human dignity contains three elements—intrinsic value, autonomy, and community value—and each element has unique legal implications.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE and the LAW of PEOPLES Samuel
    DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE AND THE LAW OF PEOPLES Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania Part I: Background A Theory of Justice says that the distribution of income and wealth within a society is just when laws and economic institutions are designed so as to maximally benefit the least advantaged members of that same society. This standard for domestic distributive justice is to apply worldwide, to determine just distributions in every society in the world. In this regard Rawls has an account of global distributive justice. But he does not have, and he does not endorse, a global distribution principle. The difference principle applies globally, within each society, but it is not global in reach. Neither Political Liberalism nor The Law of Peoples retracts or alters this position. The primary focus of political liberalism is not ideal justice, but liberal legitimacy. It implies that laws regulating distributions in a democratic society can be legitimate, hence worthy of respect, even if they are not wholly just.1 Unlike the basic liberties and their priority, the difference principle is not required by liberal legitimacy; for legitimacy it suffices that a liberal society provide an adequate social minimum (adequate to free and equal persons’ realizing the moral powers and effectively exercising the equal basic liberties). The difference principle is one among several standards that pass the legitimacy test, all of which meet the criterion of reciprocity and the requirements of public reason. A society which protects the basic liberties and their priority, and affords equal opportunities and an adequate social minimum is 1 For Rawls’s distinction between the aims of TJ and PL, Cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Consensus on What? Convergence for What? Four Models of Political
    Consensus on What? Convergence for What? Four Models of Political Liberalism* Gerald Gaus and Chad Van Schoelandt 1 A PROJECT, NOT AN EDIFICE In an early symposium on A Theory of Justice, John Chapman remarked that “Rawls’s theory has both the simplicity and the complexity of a Gothic cathedral.”1 In his recent important book on Rawls’s political turn, Paul Weithman notes and endorses this characterization. Weithman seeks a unified interpretation of Theory, Rawls’s political turn and its search for stability, overcoming the many partial interpretations that take only “one view of the cathedral.”2 When readers turn to Political Liberalism, the style that comes to mind is not gothic, but baroque.3 If one takes even the 1993 hardback edition of Political Liberalism as a single, unified construction — much less the paperback edition, which includes the important “Reply to Habermas”— it has the tension, movement, complexity and irregularity of the baroque. Nevertheless, at least as far as we can see, the baroque interpretation too fails — after numerous readings, we are unable to construct a reasonably coherent and viable interpretation that accounts for all the *An earlier version of this essay was delivered to the 25th anniversary of conference of Rawls's Political Liberalism, hosted by the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics, Georgia State University, May, 2016. Our thanks for the comments and suggestions of all the participants; subsequent comments by Paul Weithman were especially vaulable, as were discussions with Brian Kogelmann. 1 John W. Chapman, “Rawls’s Theory of Justice,” American Political Science Review, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • APA Newsletters
    APA Newsletters Volume 06, Number 1 Fall 2006 NEWSLETTER ON PHILOSOPHY AND LAW FROM THE EDITORS, JOHN ARTHUR & STEVEN SCALET ARTICLES ROBERT F. SCHOPP “Expressing Condemnation that Fits the Crime” TERRY L. PRICE “Feinberg’s Offense Principle and the Danish Cartoons of Muhammad” CHRISTOPHER KNAPP “Harm and Homicide” CHRISTOPHER GRIFFIN “Jury Nullification, Democracy, and the Expressive Function” PATRICK BOLEYN-FITZGERALD “Liberalism, Euthanasia, and the Right to be Eaten” © 2006 by The American Philosophical Association ISSN: 1067-9464 APA NEWSLETTER ON Philosophy and Law John Arthur & Steven Scalet, Co-Editors Fall 2006 Volume 06, Number 1 FROM THE EDITORS ARTICLES Edition in Tribute to Joel Feinberg Expressing Condemnation that Fits the Crime This edition honors the legacy of Joel Feinberg and continues Robert F. Schopp the normative and conceptual analysis that animated his life’s University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law work. Joel died in 2004 from complications arising from his long I. Introduction struggle with Parkinson’s disease. As attested through the many obituaries and remembrances written in his honor, his writing In one of his widely recognized works, Joel Feinberg provides is widely regarded among the finest work that contemporary a conceptual analysis of punishment that emphasizes the social and legal philosophy has ever produced. expression of condemnation as a central element that distinguishes punishment from other penalties and serves Always a gentleman, beloved by students and faculty, several important social functions of punishment.1 In this Joel had the remarkable philosophical virtue of a kindly analysis, Feinberg explicitly rejects the familiar notion that manner combined with a dry wit.
    [Show full text]
  • The Law of Peoples and the Cosmopolitan Critique
    The Law of Peoples and the Cosmopolitan Critique Aysel Dogan Bowling Green State University In The Law of Peoples , John Rawls extends the domestic version of his political conception of justice as fairness to the relations among peoples at the international level. Rawls argues that not all peoples accept liberal values, 1 but this does not require liberal peoples to leave all nonliberal peoples 2 outside the international community—the society of peoples endorsing the law of peoples. If a society is not aggressive and is respectful to human rights, and yet nonliberal such as a “decent hierarchical society,” 3 liberal peoples can tolerate it, and delegates of liberal peoples accept to enter into an international original position with its delegates. Rawls then contend that delegates of decent hierarchical societies would agree on a set of principles of international law, such as the principle of non-intervention, respect for treatises and human rights. The distinction Rawls made between political liberalism and comprehensive doctrines in Political Liberalism is crucial for the law of peoples: “… there are many reasonable comprehensive doctrines that understand the wider realm of values to be congruent with, or supportive of, or else not in conflict with, political values as these are specified by a political conception of justice for a democratic regime.” 4 Individuals or groups of a liberal society might have different conceptions of a good life or religious, philosophical and moral doctrines but they have some political values, 5 which unite them as members of the same society. The separation of political liberalism from liberalism as a 1 Central to liberal values are “belief in the supreme value of the individual, his freedom and rights” and “advocacy of toleration in matters of morality and religion.” See Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (New York: Hill and Wong, 1982), p.
    [Show full text]