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 Ayesha |
| Utilitarianism |
| Fred
Speaking
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 I want to zone in on the utilitarian view of a just distribution. Ann said that a utilitarian could develop a view of justice and that a just distribution would be the one that resulted from the application of rules that maximized human welfare.Look, I'm not against human welfare, OK. But how can it be that a just distribution is determined solely in this way? First of all, an approach like that fails to consider how things come into existence. We aren't normally distributing things that fall from the sky. People make things. Things come into existence with claims attached to them, so to speak. Do any of us really think that the fact that someone made something -- a chair, for example -- is irrelevant to how that chair is justly handed out? Utilitarianism doesn't allow us to consider merit or productivity or any other sort of claim that people may have on things. Secondly, not only do people make things, but they have different ideas about distributing them. If I make a chair then not only must that fact be considered when we talk about the just distribution of chairs, but what I want for the chair must be considered. Perhaps I made it as a present for my mother or father. Don't my intensions matter? |
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