Part II: Political Philosophy

Chapter 6

Study questions for What is Justice?

  1. Do our political obligations stem from a social contract?
  2. What is Rawls’s theory of justice – and is it convincing?
  3. What is the difference between Sen and Nussbaum over capabilities?
  4. Is multiculturalism compatible with justice?
  5. Should justice account for stakeholding?

Multiple Choice Questions

Weblinks for What is justice?

Baehr, A. (2013). ‘Liberal Feminism’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-liberal/. [An accessible introduction to this influential view of feminism and its critics.]

Cudd, A. (2012). ‘Contractarianism’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractarianism/. [An excellent overview of social contract theories in political philosophy.]

Human Development and Capability Association, https://hd-ca.org/. [An important resource for information and links about capability approaches.]

Song, S. (2010). ‘Multiculturalism’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-liberal/. [A useful examination of multiculturalism, its issues and challenges.]

Wenar, L. (2012). ‘John Rawls’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/. [The best introduction to Rawls’s justice as fairness available.]

Introductory further reading for What is justice?

Rawls, J. (2001). Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Harvard University Press. [This book is Rawls’s lectures about this theory of justice that brings together his earlier work and is more accessible.]

Sandel, M. (2009). Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? Penguin. [An excellent, accessible introduction to the idea of justice covering the leading figures and ideas.]

Advanced further reading for What is justice?

Brooks, T. (2012). Punishment. Routledge. [A comprehensive examination of the philosophy of punishment and defence of a unified theory of punishment bringing together multiple penal purposes. But also argues for the idea of a stakeholder society and why this matters for political justice.]

Brooks, T. and Nussbaum, M. (eds) (2015). Rawls’s Political Liberalism. Columbia University Press. [A recent contribution by leading figures delivering a timely reassessment of Rawls’s theory of justice.]

Nussbaum, M. (2000). Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge University Press. [A highly influential account revising Sen’s work on capabilities.]

Okin, S. (1999). Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? Princeton University Press. [An excellent essay with a series of critical responses that reflects on possible conflict between feminism and multiculturalism – and what we should think about it.]

Parekh, B. (2006). Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. 2nd edition. Palgrave Macmillan. [The most significant contribution to our understanding of multiculturalism richly informed by a leading statesman.]

Plato. (1992). The Republic. Hackett. [Perhaps the best-known work in philosophy and a crucial early contribution to our understanding of justice.]

Rousseau, J.-J. (1997). The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings. Cambridge University Press. [The most important text in the history of philosophy defending the idea of a social contract.]

Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press. [A key statement by this Nobel Prize-winning economist about his novel capability approach and its relevance for justice within and beyond states.]