Ronald Dworkin

In the article “The Decision That Threatens Democracy” by Ronald Dworkin, the author explains how the Court’s Citizens United decision will negatively affect the politics in the United States because the decision allows corporations to donate any amount of money in electoral elections to the candidate of their preference. The author cites a poll that says that 80 percent of the people polled agree that corporations that help officials in their campaigns will receive “special consideration” when…

In “Justice and High Cost of Health Care”, Ronald Dworkin takes a broad view of health care and addresses how much should be spent and how it should be distributed among society. He argues that we should approach health care allocation using his “prudent insurance” model as a guide. By making us sensitive to the financial balance between health care and other goods, Dworkin explains why his model is superior to the traditional “rescue principle” which definitively places life and health above…

In his general attack on legal positivism, Ronald Dworkin identifies three main tenets of positivism’s “skeleton” (Dworkin 74): The first is that a community’s law is distinguished from other social standards by a master rule’s recognition. The second is that when a case cannot be resolved by an existing set of rules, a judge must exercise discretion to reach a decision. The third is that a legal obligation exists if and only if a case falls under a set of valid legal rules. Organized under…

Dworkin on Judicial Discretion in “Hard Cases” Lu Zhao Boyu (Bozy) | A0127866R In the standard courtroom, one could reasonably expect the judge to be the one responsible for the holding of a case. However, does and should the judge exercise his own discretion when deciding cases? Prominent legal theorist H. L. A. Hart claims that judges do exercise discretion, especially in “hard cases”, where there is no pre-existing or unambiguous rule. To this matter, Hart’s brilliant student Ronald Dworkin…

In Justice and the High Cost of Health, American philosopher Ronald Dworkin makes it evident that the prudent insurance ideal could be a possible approach in determining what sorts of health care society needs on the grounds of justice. There are two problems that need reform in American health care; the first is how much America should spend on health care overall, and the second is how should that health care be distributed among the people (242). The purpose of Dworkin’s prudent insurance…

Dworkin states that “the average person would have purchased insurance at that level, and compensate those who do develop handicaps accordingly, out of some fund collected by taxation or other compulsory process but designed to match the fund that would have been provided through premiums if the odds had been equal,” (Dworkin 78). In essence, the money invested would then go to support those who end up having a…

This essay aims to briefly discuss the idea that - though the theory of Constitutionalism qualifies and limits democracy, it is not incompatible with democracy, as a Constitution derives its authority from the People who are sovereign. This essay discusses this idea in the light of democratic theory and in relation to the constitutional development of the United States of America. In doing so, this essay briefly discusses the concepts of ‘Democracy’ and ‘Constitutionalism’ and highlights the…

public offices diminishes their freedom to speak. Corporations argue that political speech is aimed at informing the electorate and therefore their allowance to spend unlimitedly is fundamental for spreading information. In contrasting such argument, Dworkin discusses that neither the quantity nor the…

In his essay titled “Justice and the High Cost of Health”, Ronald Dworkin outlines a method of allocating universal healthcare. His plan, which he calls the “prudent insurance ideal”, basically entails that medical insurance should cover what the prudent American needs in terms of healthcare (Dworkin 243). In this essay, I will argue for a better insurance plan – one that includes a way to improve the social determinants of health, which are a significant part of healthcare. Finally, I will…

Edward Snowden, the former subcontractor of the National Security Agency is a dishonorable traitor who threatened the welfare of The United States’ national security system. Through the works of prominent philosophers including, Ronald Dworkin, Thomas Hobbes, and Henry David Thoreau it provides an understanding of the importance of establishing a proper punishment while enforcing the prior precedent. These works are able to be applied to Edward Snowden’s case due to his avoidance of accepting…