• WEEK 4 (18–22 Sept): Justice

Required Readings

• John Rawls: A Theory of Justice
• Michael Sandel: A Deal is a Deal (first Youtube lecture on Rawls)
• Michael Sandel: What's a Fair Start (second Youtube lecture on Rawls)
• Robert Nozick: Justice and Entitlement
• Michael Sandel: Free to Choose (Youtube lecture on Nozick)
• Course Notes for Week 5

Writing Assignment

This week's writing assignment should be submitted through the course's blackboard page. To submit it, you should go to the Discussion Board section, then open this week's forum, which is called "Week 4 Assignment". You should begin a new thread in that forum and post your answer to the question there.

Your assignment this week is to describe an actual social policy that has recently been proposed by a politician, and to argue that Rawls and Nozick would disagree about whether it would be just to implement it. You have two options about what to argue: (a) Rawls would say that the policy would move us closer to a just society and Nozick would say the opposite, or (b) vice versa.

You must choose an actual policy proposal that has recently been proposed by an actual politician who occupied, or who was running for an elected office that governs over you. (It could be a candidate for president, or for senate, or congress, or mayor, or city counsellor, etc.) By a policy proposal, I mean something with some actual implementation details (like an actual policy about how to deliver healthcare), not a vague, general idea (like the idea that healthcare is a right).

Your argument should be no longer than 300 words. This assignment is due no later than 11:59pm on Thursday, September 21st.

Bonus point opportunity: Once the assignments have been uploaded, you should read through other students' answers. If you find a post in which you disagree with the author's interpretation of what either Rawls or Nozick would think about the policy they describe, you should explain why you think this in a comment on their post. If you make a good point (i.e., if your answer demonstrates a clear understanding of the theory at issue), I will give you a bonus point on this assignment. (Note that you can't get a bonus point for making a point that another student has already made, or for commenting on your own post. You needn't comment on anyone's post if you don't want a bonus point.)