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MICHAEL J.
JUSTICE THE RIGHT
THING TO
DO?
SANDEL
308
labour. Taxing the rich to pay the poor which is more similar to the utilitarian
violates the rights of the rich. If my argument.
income is taxed, I lose the ownership of For example, most Americans and
my labour and thus, ownership to C a n a d i a n s o p p o s e a n y fo r m o f
myself. conscription for a military based on
The primary objections to libertarian grounds, that the state Chapters
libertarianism are as follows: should not coerce individuals into the
10
armed services. One could also make the
Taxation is not slavery: If you are argument that conscription would
taxed, you can choose to work less and decrease the overall social welfare when
pay lower taxes. compared to a “volunteer army”. Either
way, ranks of the armed forces in North
Individual’s owe their success to
America are filled through the labour
those who contribute towards it:
market, just like any other job.
Success and wealth is not achieved
Sandel raises two objections to
independently and is a product of the
market in this case. First, how “free” are
social environment from which it rises.
the members of the armed forces. They
Individuals can vote on taxes: In an by and large come from low income
democracy, individuals have a voice in backgrounds. Does an individual from a
making the tax laws to which they are high income background have the same
subject. freedom than someone from a low
income background? The second
Success is product of luck: While objection concerns the roles of civic
some success can be attributed to hard virtue and the common good. What is
work, some success is also a product of difference between today’s professional
favorable conditions and “natural gifts” volunteer army and mercenaries?
that may be arbitrarily favored by a Markets would argue nothing - they are
community. being paid for a service in demand but
Chapter 5: What Matters is
Motives / Immanuel Kant SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?
Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) was
a philosopher in East Prussia. His Black Water is a private mercenary
primary works focused intensively on army used in the wars in Iraq and
several questions: What is the Afghanistan. They are paid to fight.
supreme principal of morality? And
what is human freedom?
Kant’s answer to freedom is more
stringent than most. He argues, that
when humans seek pleasure or avoid
pain, we aren’t acting freely because
we are acting as slaves to our appetites
and desires. To act freely is not to
choose the best means to a particular
end; it is to choose the end itself, for
its own sake. This is Kant’s central
philosophical idea known as the
categorical imperative.
According to Kant, morality is
b a s e d o n a u n i v e r s a l l a w, a The United States Army are paid
professional soldiers. They are also paid
commandment of pure practical
to fight.
reason from which all duties and
obligations derive. When choosing
actions, one may consider the ends that your friend who is hiding in the house.
are right, such as helping someone, and Is it morally permissible to lie to the
ends which are “good” such as enriching murderer? Kant would argue that it
oneself. Kant believed the “right” to be would violate the categorical imperative
superior over the good and through to tell the murderer that your friend is
reason human’s can learn the “right”. not there; however, it would not violate
One of Kant’s “rights” is to be the categorical imperative if you said, “I
truthful, not because it is good but saw that person down the street two
because it is principled. But what if a hours ago…” for the latter is not a
murderer comes to your door to ask for complete lie. Immanuel
Kant
(1724
-
1804)
“The essence of the game has been about shot making-using clubs
to cause the ball to progress from the teeing ground to a hole
some distance away with as few strokes as possible.”