Transcript Justice of Fairness Approach

Andrea Wellenstein, Jill Kollmann,
Heather Lammers, and Britni Klein
Monday at 1:30-4:30
Ethical Theories Presentations
April 6th, 2010
 Justice: Is the concept of moral
rightness based on ethics, rationality,
law, natural law, religion, fairness or
equity.
 Fairness: Free from bias, dishonesty, or
injustice; a fair decision, a fair judge.
 What does treating people fairly mean?
Does fairness mean everyone gets the
same amount, like an equal piece of a
chocolate bar?
 Do onto others as you would want
done onto you.
Fair and unfair actions distribute benefits and
burdens
 Fairness requires consistency in the way people
are treated.
 Benefits and burdens are based on personal:
 Needs
 Desires
 Contributions
 Equality for all

 Author of A Theory of
Justice, Political Liberalism
and The Law of People
John Rawls General Conception

All social primary goods - liberty and
opportunity, income and wealth, and
the bases of self-respect are to be
distributed equally unless an unequal
distribution of any or all of these
goods is to the advantage of the least
favored.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4apqBH-f9A
 Born 384 BC- 322 BC
 Roughly at the age 61-
62
 “ equals should be
treated equally and
unequal's unequally.”
 The basic moral questions in
Aristotle’s approach is:
 How fair is an action?
 Does it treat everyone in the
same way, or does it show
favoritism and discrimination?
…Criticisms…
 How does one individual justify what is
fair and just for all individuals?
 Culture
 Religion
 Society
 Community
 Education
 According to the United Network for
Organ Sharing there were 92,722 people
waiting for organ transplants in August
2006, but only 6,126 people had donated
organs between January and May of 2006.
How do we distribute 6,126 organs among
92,722 people? This is a question for
justice.
 A person's good is that which is needed for the
successful execution of a rational long-term plan of
life given reasonably favorable circumstances.
 Liberty
 Opportunity
 Income
 Wealth
 Self-respect
 Beatrice Norton started working at a cotton
mill at age 14. She had to stop working, due
to having “brown lung”. The company that
she worked for was not going to help her
with the chronic and sometimes fatal
disease she suffered from sue to the poor
work conditions. She asked the state
legislators to provide her with compensation
for the disability. Her request was denied.
 Fairness/Justice Approach says that
people need to be treated equally. If
they cannot be treated equally they
need to be treated properly based on
some criteria. This means that the
communities or people effected by your
decisions cannot be favored or benefit
from an unfair advantage.
I.
Is everyone being treated equally?
II. What is fair and/or unfair to different people?
III. What are the standards used to make decisions?