Combining Texts

Ideas for 'works', 'The Idea of Justice' and 'There is No A Priori (and reply)'

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2 ideas

24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract
A social contract limits the pursuit of justice to members of a single society [Sen]
     Full Idea: The use of the social contract in the Rawlsian form inescapably limits the involvement of participants in the pursuit of justice to the members of a given polity, or 'people'.
     From: Amartya Sen (The Idea of Justice [2009], 02 'Relevance')
     A reaction: This relates to the criticism of contractarian ethics - that the weak have nothing to bargain with. One can either add international contracts, or appeal to natural human rights. Or we could just be nice to one another? Nah!
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
A person's voice may count because of their interests, or because of their good sense [Sen]
     Full Idea: A person's voice may count either because her interests are involved, or because he reasoning and judgement can enlighten a discussion.
     From: Amartya Sen (The Idea of Justice [2009], 04 'Diversity')
     A reaction: Good. Inarticulate people may have strong interests, and articulate and helpful people may be wholly disinterested. But people may have unworthy interests, and may be articulate but not sensible.