An Inquiry into the nature of Justice

This paper is concerned with the principles of justice and their dominion. I will argue that justice requires an ethic that is both robustly egalitarian and cosmopolitan. In section 1 will attempt to demonstrate that rather than constraining calls for equality that liberty, properly understood, motivates it and that autonomy requires the absence of oppressive structures that impugn on an individual’s preference formation. I will consider various accounts of the currency of egalitarian justice and what factors an egalitarian thesis should be sensitive to. I will do this by setting out the principles argued for by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice and considering some of the objections that have been raised with this account. I do this motivated by the esteem even his critics hold this text and its preeminent position within contemporary Political Philosophy. In section 2 I will argue that the principles for distributive justice discussed in section 1 apply to international as well as intranational distributions and that the accounts of equality and liberty preferred in section 1 are incompatible with undue preference being awarded to some on account of their nationality. I will argue that a failure to provide adequate consideration to non‐citizens and non‐residents ignores how the motivations for obligations to citizens also apply to those groups. I will argue that the descriptive claims of what states do are should not be conflated with the normative claims of what states should do. I will also look at specific issues that I hold motivate preference for a cosmopolitan ethic.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Hart, Victor

• B Athroniaeth (Cyffredinol)

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:1712