06 Rights, Contracts, and Justice Free Online FlashCards

What does the social contract usually represent?

It is usually a thought experiment about rules people could agree to live under, not a claim that everyone literally signed an agreement.

Why does Hobbes support a powerful sovereign?

Hobbes argued that people have strong reasons to authorize a powerful sovereign to secure peace and protect them from violence.

What is the purpose of Rawls’s veil of ignorance?

The veil of ignorance hides each chooser’s class, talents, gender, religion, and social position, discouraging principles tailored to personal advantage.

What is Rawls’s first principle of justice?

Everyone should have an adequate and equal scheme of fundamental liberties, compatible with the same liberties for others.

When is an action wrong according to Scanlonian contractualism?

For Scanlonian contractualism, an action is wrong if principles permitting it could be reasonably rejected as a basis for informed, unforced agreement.

How does Scanlonian contractualism differ from contractarianism?

Contractarianism often explains rules through mutually advantageous agreement; Scanlonian contractualism asks whether principles can be justified to each person.

What is a right, and how can it relate to a duty?

A right identifies something a person is entitled to or a claim others must respect; a claim-right, such as a right to a fair hearing, corresponds to duties for others.

How do moral rights differ from legal rights?

A moral right is justified by moral considerations, while a legal right is recognized by a legal system; the two need not coincide.

What questions does justice address?

Justice concerns what people are owed and how institutions treat and relate to them, including fair procedures, equal status, rights, opportunities, and the distribution of benefits and burdens.

What limits government authority in Locke’s view?

Locke held that government must protect natural rights, including life, liberty, and property; people may resist its authority when it fails to do so.

How does Rousseau connect law and freedom?

Rousseau argued that legitimate law should express the people’s common political will, allowing people to obey laws while remaining free.

What does Rawls’s second principle require?

Opportunities must be genuinely open under fair conditions, and social and economic inequalities must work to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged.