WWS 370 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Pareto Efficiency
8 Nov 2018
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Document Summary
Rawls: criticism of utilitarianism difference principle. Says utilitarianism is oriented towards maximizing the total sum of good in a society. If the ultimate end is to maximize the total welfare, you"ll come across situations where by minimizing the welfare of some minorities, you can maximize the welfare of the rest of society. You end up encroaching upon the liberty and rights of individuals. Utilitarianism doesn"t take the distinctions between persons seriously. It collapses the distinctions and looks at society as one huge aggregate of persons. This provides the justification for the first principle of justice (all individuals have equal freedom/liberties/rights) Forces us to look at people"s interested equally by imposing the veil of ignorance. Fundamental presumption that we are rational people. Second principle of justice: social and economic inequalities should be arranged and distributed so as to benefit the worst off. No one could be better off without making someone else worse off.
