Philosophy & Society final

Singer on Famine Relief

(For)
1. If we can prevent something bad from happening w/out sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance, we are morally obligated to do so.
2. Death by poverty related illness is something we can prevent w/out sacrificing anything of comparabl

Slote on Empathy (Famine Relief)

empathy-altruism hypothesis

Hardin on Famine Relief

(Against)
1. We ought to prevent suffering as much as possible.
2. Feeding the poor will result in more total suffering than if we let them die.
3. Therefore, we should let the poor die.

Biethics on Human Cloning

1. Problems of safety
2. Special problem of consent
3. Problems of exploitation of women and the just distribution risk
4. Problems of identity & originality
5. Concerns regarding manufacture
6. Prospects for a new eugenics

Parent Licensing
Three criteria for licensing

1. It's an activity which is potentially very harmful to others.
2. Safe performance of the activity requires a certain level of competence.
2. We have a moderately reliable procedure for determining competence.

LaFollette on Parent Licensing

1. The best explanation of our licensing practices is that an activity should require a license when 3 criteria are met.
2. Parenting satisfies all 3 criteria.
3. Therefore, parenting should require a license.

Objections to LaFollete (Parent Licensing)

1. Rights Violation
2. Punishment w/out a crime
3. some practical objections- hard to come up w/ procedure; injustices would occur

Rawls on Justice as Fairness (wealth)

equal freedoms principle
difference principle
inequalities are unjust if not everyone is being benefitted

Nozick on Distributive Justice (wealth)

(redistributive taxation is unjust)
1. A person who acquires a holding n accordance w/ the principle of justice in acquisition is entitled to that holding.
2. A person who acquires a holding in accordance w/ the principle of justice in transfer, from some

Nozick

a. Justice of acquisition: if you acquired something justly, it is for you to own
b. Justice in transfer: If someone who justly owns something freely transfers it to someone else, the new person now justly owns it.
c. Rectification of injustices: If someo

Nozick on taxation

Redistributive taxation is unjust:
b. we have to regulate inequality generating activities
c. we have to constantly intervene in ppl's lives
taxation is analogous to forced labor
experiential vs. material wealth

Himma

You don't take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, and say, "You are free to compete w/ all others" and still believe you've been completely fair

Himma & The Fair Start Defense of AA

Blacks & women attribute less importance to academic achievement. They start behind the line. So, its just to allow the preferences that put them at a fair start.

Himma on "academic disidentification

Academic achievement isn't a big part of self-identity for blacks and women

Newton on Affirmative Action
implicit bias

Subconscious biases that favor certain racial groups over others

Newton's first objection to AA

There's nothing special ab race & gender. Cant justify AA for disadvantages associated w/ race & gender bc other inequalities exist

Newton's second objection to AA

Some black ppl and women aren't unfairly disadvantaged bc of their race & gender

Newton on the Nondiscrimination Principle

every hiring decision that distinguishes 2 ppl is discrimination
some forms of discrimination are permissible

Reparations position

US gov./white americans have a moral obligation to benefit the current generation of black Americans bc of the wrongful harms inflicted on past generations of Africans/black Americans by institutions of slavery & its aftermath. These wrongful harms includ

What are reparations?

any benefits to black Americans that are justified by appeal to the wrongful harms of slavery & its aftermath

Primary challenge to reparations position

Almost no white American alive helped bring about slavery or any other injustices upon blacks up to desegregation. How, then, can they be held responsible for compensating the current black generation?

Plantation owner example

Slave group 1: treated very well, profited plantation owner/his descendants greatly
Slave group 2: treated terribly, abused so bad they were unproductive-- plantation owner lost $$

What does the unjust enrichment argument entail?

The descendants of the profitable slaves are owed benefits from the profits owed to their ancestors. The terribly abused group are not.

Compensation Argument

1. Compensation principle- if a person/public entity wrongfully harms someone, he or the gov. incurs a moral obligation to compensate the victim.
2. Past claimants- Previous generations of white Americans wrongfully harmed previous generations of black Am

Compensation Argument contd.

4. Surviving public obligations principle- If a gov. incurs a moral obligation as a result of the authorized actions of some of its public officials, then this obligation doesn't cease to exist when the officials in question die.
5. Unpaid debt- Black ame

Cause for disparity in well-being b/w blacks & whites

Either a product of genetics or differences in social environments of most ppl in each group.

Drugs and Harm to Users

1. Drug use is very harmful to users.
2. The government should prohibit people from doing things that harm themselves.
3. Therefore, the government should prohibit drug use.

Drugs and Harm to Others

Drug use must be outlawed because drug use harms the user's family, friends, and coworkers, and/or society in general

Elliot on Uniqueness, Individuality, & Human Cloning AND his objection to the manufacturing argument

Manufacturing argument- by cloning ppl, we devalue them; they are objects to be designed
BUT, there are morally defensible motivations- bypasses infertility, avoids genetic disease; "It can simply be a choice to have a child of one's own in the only way p

Hershenov for Human Cloning

a. Infertile couples
b. Cloning an infertile child to save it (bone-marrow transplant)
c. Cloning to prevent the passing of plagued genes
d. Couple had 1st child then becomes infertile. Clones the 1st. Now they have 2 kids that are genetically related.

Hershenov's conditions for cloning

1. Ppl can't clone themselves
2. Ppl shouldn't take possession of the "product" unless they're the genetic parents of the clone
3. the genetic parents should be unable/unlikely to conceive a healthy child
4. both genetic parents should freely enter into t