Philosophical Conceptions of Justice - Essay Example

? Philosophical Conceptions of Justice Introduction Philosophical Conceptions of Justice People of diverse cultures and ethnicities make up the world. This means that different people perceive justice in different ways depending on the people around them and their ways of life and intellectual capabilities. However, justice, in a universal definition, entails the knowledge of doing right from wrong and making sure people live in the right way together. It is this ‘right’ way of living that brings controversies in describing social justice among nations. This paper discusses a variety of philosophical conceptions of justice with regard to famous philosophers in their definitions of social justice (Ackerman, 1980). John Locke and Thomas Jefferson John Locke lived in the mid seventeenth century as an English Enlightenment philosopher. He argued that our ancestors once lived in a state of nature that had no government or laws. However, as life advanced and civilization came up, people became stratified into various social classes that required the formulation of laws and regulations in order to cater for the less disadvantaged. This also prohibited the oppression of the less fortunate by the more fortunate. He called this idea of the social contract that enabled all citizens acquire fundamental rights of life, property, and liberty. However, this depended on people’s consent that he said are an active part of the social contract in which they take part depending on their own accord (Chaffee, 2004). Consequently, a twenty first century philosopher, Chaffee, analyses Locke’s writings in addition to other various ancient philosophers. He says that Locke’s theory is political in that he took up Hobbe’s opinion of human equality and the social contract. Furthermore, he also puts Aristotle’s arguments forward that man is naturally a social creature who cannot survive alone. This means that humanity is fundamentally a social identity and that there is no need to put up a system to control our way of life. However, Hobbes described how this natural socialism could lead to relinquishment of certain rights by high status individuals, hence, leading to oppression and injustice. On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States was a profound follower of Locke’s arguments. He believed that every human being is equal and that God gave each unique rights, including liberty, life, and the right to be happy and content. He created his government on the basis that it enabled his people to secure these rights. However, the people still held the right to overthrow the government if they felt that its constitution was not in favor of their happiness and safety. As a result, I believe in Locke’s way of thinking that nowadays life requires a body, like the government, that controls the provision and use of resources on the basis that we are all equal regardless of an individual’s social status. This is because it defines true independence (Marx, 1938). Conceptions of justice Liberalism denotes a free way of acting and thinking in public and private life. It focuses on the role of an individual to possess the power to think and act in whatever way that he or she likes. It is a philosophical view based on Aristotle and Plato’s arguments on justice as was recommended by Locke as the key to a just way of life. It rejects state religion, hereditary privilege, and absolute monarchy as notions that favor inequality among the public and private. In the 19th, liberalism advanced to a political ideology called classical liberalism. This liberalism was still based on the initial liberalism ideas although it advocated for political freedom and civil liberties while opposing how the government interfered with economic freedom. On the other hand, socialism describes an economic ideology that entails social possession of resources, including the ways of production of these resources. It also entails mutual organization of the economy that focuses on benefiting the public as a whole instead of specific individuals or groups (Ebenstein, 1985). According to Ebenstein, human behavior, economic practices, and values are mainly dependent on the social environment. Thus, this rejects the social contact notion that these aspects depend on natural law. As a result, it urges people to work to obtain goods and services. However, this prohibits people from developing their individual talents and pursuing individual interests. Capitalism is another economic ideology that focuses on private ownership of resources and their utilization for profit. It relies from Hobbes’ point of view that human beings are generally competitive in nature whereby, they always aim to be better than their counterparts are. As a result, accumulation of wealth forms the core element of capitalism. Furthermore, the fact that sharing of goods and services is voluntary prohibits the power of the government and political leaders to coerce. Hence, capitalism promotes social inequality with power and wealth being distributed to certain people while others become poorer and more miserable. In terms of governments or states, it leads to oligarchy where some countries have to depend on superior nations for survival and upkeep of their citizens. This, to me, is injustice and I think it has played a monumental part to the formation and maintenance of third world countries. Communism, conversely, involves a stateless and classless social order that functions based on common ownership of resources and their utilization. According to Burell (2011), the ideology behind communism is economic and social, as well as social. It is just in that it allows distribution of resources based on a person’s need where the social relations between individuals are free. Differences between capitalism and socialism The establishment of capitalism in the eighteenth century, after the Industrial revolution, led to displacement of massive populations from the countryside to urban centers. This, thus, led to the establishment of social classes that exploited and dominated other classes leading to social inequality and injustice. This was unlike during the era of socialism where members of the community lived together without stratification of social classes or the existence of a coercive system. According to Burell (2011), private ownership and employment that had low wages were the main aspects that promoted social inequality during capitalism. Differences between liberalism and socialism Liberalism is a political philosophy, which is founded on the basis of equity and liberty. It is characterized by fair and free elections, freedom of press, civil rights, free trade, freedom of worship, and rights to life, property, and liberty. This was the first philosophy in the era of enlightenment. On the other hand, socialism is characterized by social ownership of property among other tools of production. It also entails social cooperation in production and management of goods and services. Most nations adopted this political philosophy during the revolution age (Ackerman, 1980). Differences between capitalism and communism In capitalism, the government uses a democratic way of ruling while in communism; it is totalitarian. Furthermore, communism involves property being owned by the state while in capitalism it is owned by private individuals. According to Burell (2011), capitalism is also governed by free enterprise unlike communism where this is not allowed. Here, wealth is distributed equally and healthcare and education provided by the government instead of private entities in capitalism. Lastly, capitalism focuses on an individual’s progress while communism entails the community as an entirely single unit. Conclusion From the above explanation, liberalism promotes justice as compared to the other political philosophies. It encourages one to work hard as ones effort is not for the benefit of the public. Nations such as Russia applied socialism, and it did not do good to the citizen as there is no personal driving force. This means that a nation adopting liberalism will also grow economically faster that a nation adopting socialism among other systems. References Ackerman, B. A. (1980). Social justice in the liberal state. New Haven: Yale U.P Burrell, J. (2011). Work is for the people: A treatise on the -isms. New York: Algora Pub. Chaffee, J. (2004).The philosopher’s way: Thinking critically about profound ideas. (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson. Ebenstein, W. (1985). Today's isms: Communism, fascism, capitalism, socialism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Read More