class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide .title[ # Distributive justice ] .date[ ### MSA 2025 ] --- class: center, middle # Justice -- Justice is about individuals getting what is _fair_ or what is _their due_. --- # Different kinds of justice - Procedural justice - Retributive justice - Restorative justice - Distributive justice --- # Different kinds of justice - Procedural justice - Making and implementing decisions according to fair processes that ensure "fair treatment." - Retributive justice - Appeals to the notion of "just desert" -- the idea that people deserve punishment/reward for their bad/good deeds. - Restorative justice - Seeks to restore relationships to “rightness”: repair what is broken, victim’s compensation, reconciliation of relationships. - __Distributive justice__ - Concerned with assigning equitable and fair distribution of benefits and burdens across members of society. --- # Rights What is a right? -- .shadow[ .emphasis[ __Rights__ (definition): A person has a right to X just in case another person, group, or party has an obligation to either provide X to that person or not to prevent that person from obtaining X. ] ] -- Two kinds of rights: - Negative rights (also called liberty rights): - Rights that impose the obligation to not interfere with the freedom of others - Positive rights (also called welfare or claim rights) - Rights that impose the obligation to provide some good or service. --- # Some examples .pull-left[ Negative rights - Life - Private property - Free speech - Freedom of religion - Bodily autonomy - Privacy - Not to be enslaved by another - (...) ] .pull-right[ Positive rights - Police protection - National security - Roads and infrastructure - Housing - Public education - Social security - Healthcare - (...) ] --- # Rights and taxes Negative rights are _cheap_. Since they are obligations to refrain from doing certain actions, they do not (usually) involve costs to others. Positive rights can be _expensive_, as fulfilling these obligations involve significant costs. They are usually financed through _taxes_. - The more positive rights we have in our society, the more taxes we need. Main question: __Should taxes be abolished/reduced significantly?__ --- # Two views on positive rights ### Libertarianism Taxes should be reduced to a minimum, covering only essential services such as police and security. The state should not engage in wealth redistribution. Any service funded by citizens should be paid for voluntarily, not through compulsory means. ### Egalitarianism Significant differences in initial wealth and talents create unfair conditions for citizens to succeed. The state should ensure minimum conditions for equality of opportunity, allowing individuals to pursue their goals in life. Access to education, housing, social security, and healthcare is essential to ensure fairness. Taxes are an appropriate way to accomplish this. --- # Procedures .pull-left[ - Research time - Prep time - Debate - Pro position (6 minutes) [Pro tax] - Questions (3 minutes) [Con tax] - Rebuttal (5-min prep, 3-min exposition) [Con tax] - Con position (6 minutes) [Con tax] - Questions (3 minutes) [Pro tax] - Rebuttal (5-min prep, 3-min exposition) [Pro tax] - Closing statements (4 minutes/team) [Both teams] ] .pull-right[ Two groups - Pro tax (8 people) - Con tax (7 people) Scoring - Every member should present. - Use the arguments of Rawls and Nozick, but create your own examples or stories to illustrate them. - Be passionate/silly about your position even if you don't agree with it. ] --- ## Guidelines for Debate - Every member must present. - Use the arguments of Rawls and Nozick as a foundation, but create your own examples or stories to illustrate them. - Be passionate or playful about your position, even if you don’t personally agree with it. ### Healthy Discussion Do: “This view is not preferable because…” Don’t: “This view is dumb/selfish/horrible” (This implies that people who hold the view have those qualities.) --- # Rawls: Egalitarianism - Inequalities - Initial distribution of income and wealth - Natural distribution of talents and abilities Two principles to correct this: .shadow[ .emphasis[ **First Principle**: Each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of basic rights and liberties. **Second Principle**: Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: first, they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society (Political Liberalism, 5-6). ] ] --- # The Original Position Imagine being part of a group that is embarking on the creation of a brand-new society. As a collective, you are tasked with determining the laws and social structure that will govern this community. However, here's the twist: none of you have any knowledge of the roles you or others will assume within this new society, or which skills and abilities will be highly valued. For instance, individuals could be young or old, male or female, proficient in math, art, humanities, sports, and so on. What sort of rules would you choose? Rawls thinks that since you don't know what your position will be in this future community, you (and also everyone else) will vote for laws that benefit all and ensure that everyone has access to the same opportunities and basic needs. In particular, you and everyone else would agree to ensure that the worst possible position in the community is good enough to minimally satisfy such a person’s basic interests and needs. --- # Nozick: Libertarianism Libertarian rights: .shadow[ .emphasis[ 1. **Full self-ownership**. Everyone owns themselves in just the same way as they own inanimate objects. In addition, everyone has the right to control the use of themselves, and the fruits of their labor. 2. **Power to transfer property rights**. Everyone has the power to transfer property they own between each other. ] ] How to acquire resources justly: 1. Just initial acquisition 2. Just transfer 3. Just rectification --- # Just distribution Nozick thinks that a distribution of resources is just if and only if individuals acquired such resources in a just manner (or, in other words, if individuals are entitled to those resources). - Society’s role with respect to justice is not about redistributing social values. Rather, its role is only to protect libertarian rights. Any attempt to redistribute resources in a different way would be unjust. - Obligatory taxation with the intention of distributing wealth is illegitimate. - Taxation is only justified when it funds the institutions that protect libertarian rights, such as law enforcement, military, and the system of justice. - Taxes for anything else are considered _forced labor_.