Philosophy in Action 2.4 The Moral Compass of Contemporary Health
Researchers and Professionals
Literature Monday 2
- Parks & Wike
o Justice and Fairness
o Social contract theories
o Rights and duties
- Rawls
o The original position and veil of ignorance
o Worst-off groups
- Daniels
o Health and justice
Literature Tuesday 7
- Appiah
o Identities
Lecture day 1 11
Lecture day 2 18
Lecture day 3 26
1
,Literature monday
1. Explain the concept of justice and the different types of justice
distinguished by the authors.
Justice means getting what one deserves or is owed. It includes having one’s right
respected and being treated fairly. What a person deserves or is owed may vary from
situation to situation.
For example: Is Mary is a U.S. military veteran, she deserves to receive medical
treatment from a Veterans Administration hospital, whereas if she is not a US military
veteran, she does not deserve to be treated there.
In this case, the criterion for what a person deserves or is owed happens to be
participation in the US military. But this is not always the standard. There are many
cases in which being a veteran has nothing to do with what one deserves, for
example in the distribution of organs for transplant.
Hence, there are multiple criteria for determining what a person deserves and we will
have to figure out which criterion applies in which cases.
There are several types of justice:
- Compensatory: Reimbursing for past wrongs
- Retributive: Assigning punishment for crimes
- Distributive: Allocating benefits and burdens
o How can we fairly pass out the benefits and the burdens of living in a
community when resources are scarce?
o If resources (time, money, expertise, medicine) where not scarce, then
there would be no distributive justice problems. Everyone could get as
much of everything as they need or want.
These are criteria for distributive justice (from the lecture):
- Equality
o A. Give all an equal share
o B. Give all an equal opportunity
- Utility
o Allocate resources in such a way that overall happiness of the greatest
number of people is maximized
o Maximize the happiness for the greatest number of people
o 4 people want pie:
Divide in 3: 3 persons will be so much happier with a greater
piece of the pie. 3 persons is more than 1 person who is sad
because he didn’t get pie.
Divide 4: People will be less happy with ¼ of the pie
- Merit (verdienste)
o Give each what they deserve based on merit (their success/contribution
to society)
o For example: The person who baked the pie, get more pie.
- Need
o Give each what they need for health, or to live a good life
2
, 2. What is meant by ‘fairness’?
To be treated fairly is to be treated in a way that is appropriate or that one deserves.
3. What is meant by ‘hypothetical contract’ or ‘social contract’ theories?
Lecture: In social contract theories justice is about rights and obligations within a
country or community.
Justice theory is rooted in a broad, social perspective that views people as members
of a community. Given that our lives are lived in the context of this community, we
must coexist and share the benefits and the burdens of communal living. Some
justice theories have explanations for how and why these communities come to be.
Philosophers as diverse as Plato, Hobbes, and Rawls have developed ‘social
contract’ theories that propose a real of hypothetical ‘contract’ to which members of a
community commit themselves. In return for certain benefits (say, protection from
attack, a legal system), citizens agree to accept certain burdens (such as taxation
and the obligation to defend the community). According to this social contract,
citizens have both rights (benefits of living in a community) and duties (these are the
burdens of such living).
4. The authors provide a discussion of ‘rights and duties’ and how they relate.
Use this discussion in a short reflection on the statement: ‘Refugees have a
right to proper healthcare’
Often justice theory employs the concept of rights. Here we mean moral rights, not
legal rights. For example, bioethics have spoken of a right to health care, a right to
die and so on. A ‘right’ is a morally justified claim or demand that someone else do
something (positive right) or not do something (negative right). Rights imply duties. If
someone has a right to something, then someone else has a duty to do something or
not do something to facilitate that right. Supposing there is a right to health care, it
follows that society or someone else has a duty to provide health care.
Rights imply duties, but duties do not imply rights. Duty is a broader category
than rights since there can be duties even in the absence of rights (one may have a
duty to be generous even though no specific person had a right to demand one’s
generosity).
Statement – Refugees have a right to proper healthcare:
Refugees are a part of our social contract. The Netherlands
has the obligation to organize this.
Because rights imply duties, a healthcare worker must
provide health care when refugees have a right to proper
healthcare.
But duties do not imply rights. It doesn’t mean that
refugees have a right to proper care just because a doctor has
the duty to provide healthcare.
John Rawls 2 Principles of Justice
1. Why does Rawls think it is important to imagine ‘the
original position’?
The original position is a thought experiment developed by
Rawls to discover the principles that should structure a society
3
Researchers and Professionals
Literature Monday 2
- Parks & Wike
o Justice and Fairness
o Social contract theories
o Rights and duties
- Rawls
o The original position and veil of ignorance
o Worst-off groups
- Daniels
o Health and justice
Literature Tuesday 7
- Appiah
o Identities
Lecture day 1 11
Lecture day 2 18
Lecture day 3 26
1
,Literature monday
1. Explain the concept of justice and the different types of justice
distinguished by the authors.
Justice means getting what one deserves or is owed. It includes having one’s right
respected and being treated fairly. What a person deserves or is owed may vary from
situation to situation.
For example: Is Mary is a U.S. military veteran, she deserves to receive medical
treatment from a Veterans Administration hospital, whereas if she is not a US military
veteran, she does not deserve to be treated there.
In this case, the criterion for what a person deserves or is owed happens to be
participation in the US military. But this is not always the standard. There are many
cases in which being a veteran has nothing to do with what one deserves, for
example in the distribution of organs for transplant.
Hence, there are multiple criteria for determining what a person deserves and we will
have to figure out which criterion applies in which cases.
There are several types of justice:
- Compensatory: Reimbursing for past wrongs
- Retributive: Assigning punishment for crimes
- Distributive: Allocating benefits and burdens
o How can we fairly pass out the benefits and the burdens of living in a
community when resources are scarce?
o If resources (time, money, expertise, medicine) where not scarce, then
there would be no distributive justice problems. Everyone could get as
much of everything as they need or want.
These are criteria for distributive justice (from the lecture):
- Equality
o A. Give all an equal share
o B. Give all an equal opportunity
- Utility
o Allocate resources in such a way that overall happiness of the greatest
number of people is maximized
o Maximize the happiness for the greatest number of people
o 4 people want pie:
Divide in 3: 3 persons will be so much happier with a greater
piece of the pie. 3 persons is more than 1 person who is sad
because he didn’t get pie.
Divide 4: People will be less happy with ¼ of the pie
- Merit (verdienste)
o Give each what they deserve based on merit (their success/contribution
to society)
o For example: The person who baked the pie, get more pie.
- Need
o Give each what they need for health, or to live a good life
2
, 2. What is meant by ‘fairness’?
To be treated fairly is to be treated in a way that is appropriate or that one deserves.
3. What is meant by ‘hypothetical contract’ or ‘social contract’ theories?
Lecture: In social contract theories justice is about rights and obligations within a
country or community.
Justice theory is rooted in a broad, social perspective that views people as members
of a community. Given that our lives are lived in the context of this community, we
must coexist and share the benefits and the burdens of communal living. Some
justice theories have explanations for how and why these communities come to be.
Philosophers as diverse as Plato, Hobbes, and Rawls have developed ‘social
contract’ theories that propose a real of hypothetical ‘contract’ to which members of a
community commit themselves. In return for certain benefits (say, protection from
attack, a legal system), citizens agree to accept certain burdens (such as taxation
and the obligation to defend the community). According to this social contract,
citizens have both rights (benefits of living in a community) and duties (these are the
burdens of such living).
4. The authors provide a discussion of ‘rights and duties’ and how they relate.
Use this discussion in a short reflection on the statement: ‘Refugees have a
right to proper healthcare’
Often justice theory employs the concept of rights. Here we mean moral rights, not
legal rights. For example, bioethics have spoken of a right to health care, a right to
die and so on. A ‘right’ is a morally justified claim or demand that someone else do
something (positive right) or not do something (negative right). Rights imply duties. If
someone has a right to something, then someone else has a duty to do something or
not do something to facilitate that right. Supposing there is a right to health care, it
follows that society or someone else has a duty to provide health care.
Rights imply duties, but duties do not imply rights. Duty is a broader category
than rights since there can be duties even in the absence of rights (one may have a
duty to be generous even though no specific person had a right to demand one’s
generosity).
Statement – Refugees have a right to proper healthcare:
Refugees are a part of our social contract. The Netherlands
has the obligation to organize this.
Because rights imply duties, a healthcare worker must
provide health care when refugees have a right to proper
healthcare.
But duties do not imply rights. It doesn’t mean that
refugees have a right to proper care just because a doctor has
the duty to provide healthcare.
John Rawls 2 Principles of Justice
1. Why does Rawls think it is important to imagine ‘the
original position’?
The original position is a thought experiment developed by
Rawls to discover the principles that should structure a society
3
