Student Name_____________________________ PHIL/PLST 350 Social and Political Philosophy Fall 2018 Due: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 Test on Marx, Mill and Rawls 1. Marx and Engels. “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” in Steven M. Cahn’s Political Philosophy, pp. 714-726. Identify in the text of the “Manifesto” and cite (referencing the page numbers) three central assertions/claims made by the authors of the text; B. Find in the text and cite one reason given by the authors in support of each of their three assertions. C. Formulate your own position on the issue addressed in each assertion and give reasons in support of your position. 2. John Stuart Mill. “Utilitarianism,” in Steven M. Cahn’s Political Philosophy, pp. 741746. A. Identify in Mill’s text “Utilitarianism” and cite (referencing the page numbers) three central assertions/claims; B. Find in the text and cite one reason given by Mill in support of each of his three assertions. C. Formulate your own position on the issue addressed in each assertion and give reasons in support of your position. 2 3. John Rawls. “A Theory of Justice,” in Steven M. Cahn’s Political Philosophy, pp. 917931. A. Identify in Rawls’ text “A Theory of Justice” and cite (referencing the page numbers) three central assertions/claims; B. Find in the text and cite one reason given by Rawls in support of each of his three assertions. C. Formulate your own position on the issue addressed in each assertion and give reasons in support of your position. 3 1 PLST/PHIL 350 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY FALL SEMESTER, 2018 MARX, MILL AND RAWLS – KEY CONCEPTS OVERVIEW KARL MARX – KEY CONCEPTS What is the essence of the socialist ideal of equality? How does the distribution proceed in the socialist society? Who is the founding father of the socialist ideal? Which countries tried to implement it and which ones have been more successful than others? “Socialists endorse a substantial ideal of equality as their core requirement.” As Karl Marx—the founding father of socialism—“expressed the ideal over a century ago, distribution is to proceed according to the principle from each according to his or her ability to each according to his or her needs. So, the ideal is one of equality of needfulfillment or self-realization.” “in the united states, a few socialists have been elected to office, but there has never been a viable socialist presidential candidate. Yet, elsewhere there have been many successful socialist candidates. For example, the late Olof Palme led the social democrats back to power in sweden and Francois Mitterrand was elected president of France.” The Soviet Union would be a wrong example of the implementation of the socialist ideal, “a fairer comparison would be to judge the socialist ideal by what takes place in countries like Sweden.” How can you get persons to contribute according to the best of their abilities if there is no corresponding increase in the financial rewards? “The answer, according to socialists, is to make the work that must be done in a society as much as possible enjoyable in itself. As a result, people will want to do the work they are capable of doing because they will find it intrinsically rewarding. What does giving workers democratic control of the work place achieve in terms of the implementation of the socialist ideal? “The key idea here is that if workers have more to say about how they do their work, the work itself will be more intrinsically rewarding. As a consequence, they will be more motivated to work since the work itself will be meeting their needs.” 2 How does the socialist ideal relate to a guaranteed social minimum? “Would socialists support a guaranteed social minimum? Obviously they would. But socialists would also want to claim that such a minimum does not go far enough so as to provide for people’s nonbasic needs as well as for their basic needs. They would also criticize welfare liberalism for not requiring the restructuring of jobs and socialization of the means of production.” What does the requirement to socialize the means of production achieve under socialism? IT SEEMS CLEAR THAT FOR MARX SOCIALIZING THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION IS BEST CONSTRUED AS A MEANS TO AN END. THE END FOR MARX WOULD BE TO FORM "AN ASSOCIATION IN WHICH THE FREE DEVELOPMENT OF EACH IS THE CONDITION OF THE FREE DEVELOPMENT OF ALL." IT MIGHT BE ARGUED THAT TO BRING ABOUT SUCH AN ASSOCIATION WOULD REQUIRE THAT INDIVIDUALS BE GIVEN CONTROL OVER THEIR WORKING CONDITIONS (OR HAVE THE OPTION OF CONTROLLING THOSE CONDITIONS). JOHN SUART MILL – KEY CONCEPTS What is the meaning of the word ethics? ETHICS IS THE DISCIPLINE DEALING WITH WHAT IS GOOD AND BAD AND WITH MORAL DUTY AND OBLIGATION. IT IS ALSO USED TO IMPLY A SET OF MORAL PRINCIPLES OR VALUES OR A SYSTEM OF MORAL VALUES Which question is treated as basic by the consequentialist moral theories? How do they determine the goodness or badness of an action? THE BASIC QUESTION FOR THE CONSEQUENTIALIST MORAL THEORIES IS “WHAT THINGS ARE GOOD OR BAD?” THEY DETERMINE THE RIGHTNESS OF AN ACTION BY THE “GOODNESS OR BADNESS OF RELEVANT CONSEQUENCES.” 3 Of the various consequentialist moral theories which ones are the most common? THE UTILITARIAN THEORIES ARE THE MOST COMMON AMONG THE CONSEQUENTIALIST THEORIES. What is the meaning of the term Utilitarianism? “UTILITARIANISM IS A CONSEQUENTIALIST ETHICAL THEORY. UTILITARIANISM IS USUALLY CONNECTED WITH THE MORE SPECIFIC DOCTRINES OF BENTHAM AND MILL, WHO TOOK THE GOODNESS OF CONSEQUENCES TO BE MEASURED BY THEIR EFFECT ON THE HAPPINESS OR WELFARE OF SENTIENT CREATURES. To understand John Mill we need to outline the key concepts of Jeremy Bentham who influenced Mill. What is the essence of Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarian theory? “BENTHAM IDENTIFIES HAPPINESS WITH PLEASURE AND THE ABSENCE OF PAIN, AND HE PROCEEDS TO DEVELOP A CALCULUS TO MEASURE THE RELATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT PLEASURES AND PAINS. HE SUPPOSES THAT WHAT MAKES AN ACT RIGHT (OR WRONG) IS THE EXTENT TO WHICH IT INCREASES PLEASURE OR DECREASES PAIN.” BENTHAM SEES PLEASURE AND PAIN AS THE ONLY THINGS THAT HAVE NON-DERIVATIVE VALUE. How does Mill differ from Bentham in his understanding of pleasures and pains? Let’s compare and contrast the two thinkers’ interpretations: “BENTHAM’S THEORY CAN BE CALLED HEDONISTIC ACT UTILITARIANISM: HEDONISTIC BECAUSE IT SEES PLEASURE AND PAIN AS THE ONLY THINGS WITH NONDERIVATIVE VALUE; ACT UTILITARIANISM BECAUSE, IN ANSWERING OUR QUESTION ABOUT WHAT MAKES ACTS RIGHT, IT APPLIES THE TEST OF UTILITY DIRECTLY TO THE ACTIONS.” “MILL ALSO ACCEPTS A VERSION OF ACT UTILITARIANISM. BUT HE DIFFERS FROM BENTHAM IN HIS VIEW THAT SOME PLEASURES ARE “HIGHER” THAN OTHERS. BENTHAM SAW HAPPINESS AS DEPENDING ONLY ON THE FELT PLEASURES AND PAINS OF THE ORGANISM. MILL’S EMPHASIS ON THE “QUALITY” OF PLEASURE SEEMS TO MAKE HAPPINESS DEPEND ALSO ON THE SATISFACTION OF CERTAIN IDEALS.” 4 In his text “The Principle of Utility”, Chapter 1, Section II, Jeremy Bentham explains what he means by the “principle of utility”: “BY THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY IS MEANT THAT PRINCIPLE WHICH APPROVES OR DISPROVES OF EVERY ACTION WHATSOEVER, ACCORDING TO THE TENDENCY WHICH IT APPREARS TO HAVE TO AUGMENT OR DIMINISH THE HAPPINESS OF THE PARTY WHOSE INTEREST IS IN QUESTION.” In Section III of the same chapter 1, Bentham explains what he understands by utility: “BY UTILITY IS MEANT THAT PROPERTY IN ANY OBJECT, WHEREBY IT TENDS TO PRODUCE BENEFIT, ADVANTAGE, PLEASURE, GOOD, OR HAPPINESS OR TO PREVENT THE HAPPENING OF MISCHEIF, PAIN, EVIL, OR UNHAPPINESS TO THE PARTY WHOSE INTEREST IS CONSIDERED.” In his work “Utilitarianism,” in chapter 3, “The Ultimate Sanction of the Principle of Utility” John Stuart Mill explains what in his view is the ultimate sanction of all morality. What does he understand as the sanction of a particular moral standard? “THE ULTIMATE SANCTION, THEREFORE, OF ALL MORALITY (EXTERNAL MOTIVES APART) BEING A SUBJECTIVE FEELING IN OUR OWN MINDS.” … … MILL REAFIRMS THIS ANSWER IN THE NEXT SENTENCE BY SAYING THAT THE “CONSCIENTIOUS FEELINGS OF MANKIND” PRESENT THE ULTIMATE SANCTION OF ALL MORALITY. JOHN RAWLS – KEY CONCEPTS What is the essence of the social and political ideal of welfare liberals? What is the core requirement of this ideal? Which party in the U.S. endorses this ideal? What does it mean when we say that the ideal of fairness is a procedural as well as substantive ideal? “Welfare liberalism…is the only contemporary social and political view… that takes an ideal of fairness as its core requirement. Welfare liberalism is “endorsed by the left wing of the democratic party in the united states whose leaders have been Jesse Jackson and Ted Kennedy.” By saying that this ideal is “procedural as well as substantive” political philosophers mean that it requires not only that cases be decided according to rules based on the principle of fairness as a core requirement (procedural); but that it also “requires certain fundamental rights and duties.” 5 Welfare liberal “fundamental rights and duties have been defended by John Rawls and other contemporary social and political philosophers as the rights and duties that people would agree to under certain conditions.” According to John Rawls, what is required for reaching an agreement in society about fundamental rights and duties of citizens? What is, according to Rawls, the practical purpose of withholding information from juries during a trial? How does it help to accomplish the ideal of fairness? What does Rawls understand by the “original position”? What kind of information should we discount and why when choosing our system of rights and duties? “According to John Rawls, this ideal of fairness requires that we discount certain knowledge about ourselves in order to reach fare agreements.” – this Rawls regards as certain ideal conditions for reaching an agreement. “a good example of what is at issue here is the practice of withholding information from juries. As we know, judges sometimes refuse to allow juries to hear certain testimony. The rational behind this practice is that certain information is highly prejudicial or irrelevant to the case at hand. The hope is that without this information, juries will be more likely to reach fare verdicts… … what is crucial is that it is recognized in these contexts that fairness demands that we discount certain information in order to achieve fair results.” “In general, this ideal of fairness requires that we should choose as though we were standing behind an imaginary “veil of ignorance” with respect to most particular facts about ourselves—anything that would bias our choice or stand in the way of unanimous agreement. Rawls calls this fair-choice situation the original position because it is the position we should start from when determining what fundamental rights and duties people should have.” When choosing our system of rights and duties according to Rawls we must discount “our knowledge of whether we are rich or poor, talented or untalented, male or female”… …, we must also discount information concerning the society and even the generation to which we belong” when choosing our system of rights and duties. “for without discounting such information, we could unfarely favor our own society over other societies, or our own generation over other generations.” 3. What do welfare liberals understand by a “basic-needs minimum”? “basic needs are those that must be satisfied in order not to seriously endanger a person’s mental or physical well-being. Needs in general, if not satisfied, lead to lacks and deficiencies with respect to various standards. Basic needs, if not satisfied, lead to significant lacks and deficiencies with respect to a standard of mental and physical 6 well-being. A person’s needs for food, shelter, medical care, protection, companionship, and self-development are, at least in part, needs of this sort.” 
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