Moral dilemmas are not just about how people should treat each other, it is also, and maybe more importantly about how we should organize our society. In the heart of the discussion about justice two questions arise: how to distribute society goods in the right way? And, what people deserve and why? (Sandel, 2009, p.19). When coming to answer these questions regarding what is just, three values appear to be important: welfare, freedom, virtue (Sandal, 2009, p. 6). In the following I will explain how these values measures social justice. Later, I will claim that when thinking about justice, virtue is the most important value, while freedom is the second important and welfare is the least important.
The welfare approach to justice is a part of the utilitarianism school of moral thought, founded by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832). Bentham claimed that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong" (Bruns, 2005, p.46). Accordingly, the focus of the 'welfare' approach to justice is on the consequences of actions. As long as the outcome of actions contribute to the prosperity and therefore to the welfare of society it is right and just (Sandal, 2009, p. 31).
The 'freedom' approach argues that justice is equal to respect for individual rights. Under this main proposition …show more content…
That is because it praise those rights and put them it the center of importance. However, there are disadvantages to this approach as well. The criticism on the egalitarianism stream, recognized with John Rawls (1921 – 2002) is that from ontology perspective it can be argue that life is just not fair. If this proposition is true, policies to remedy the inherent inequality will be very difficult to enforce because they will be against humans nature (Sandel, 2009,
The welfare approach to justice is a part of the utilitarianism school of moral thought, founded by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832). Bentham claimed that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong" (Bruns, 2005, p.46). Accordingly, the focus of the 'welfare' approach to justice is on the consequences of actions. As long as the outcome of actions contribute to the prosperity and therefore to the welfare of society it is right and just (Sandal, 2009, p. 31).
The 'freedom' approach argues that justice is equal to respect for individual rights. Under this main proposition …show more content…
That is because it praise those rights and put them it the center of importance. However, there are disadvantages to this approach as well. The criticism on the egalitarianism stream, recognized with John Rawls (1921 – 2002) is that from ontology perspective it can be argue that life is just not fair. If this proposition is true, policies to remedy the inherent inequality will be very difficult to enforce because they will be against humans nature (Sandel, 2009,