Justice — Practice Quiz

Man is the absolute owner of his property earned through hard work and cannot be deprived of it by the state.

Nozick, like Locke, treats property as a natural right. His entitlement theory says that if you have acquired property justly (by your own effort), you are its absolute owner. The state has no right to nationalise or redistribute it. The only legitimate state is a 'minimal state' or 'nightwatchman state' that protects individuals from force, theft, and fraud. This is very different from Rawls, who supports redistribution to help the least advantaged.

Social and economic inequalities are acceptable only if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.

Rawls' Difference Principle (the second part of his second principle of justice) states that inequalities in income, wealth, and power are just only when they work to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged people in society. For example, if allowing a doctor to earn more than others encourages better healthcare, it is acceptable because ultimately even the poorest benefit. This makes justice focus on improving the condition of the most vulnerable.

Balancing individual rights with social control and uplifting weaker sections of society.

Social justice is about finding a fair balance between what individuals are entitled to and what the society needs as a whole. It ensures that the legitimate expectations of individuals are fulfilled, but also that special facilities are provided to weaker and backward sections for their upliftment. It is not about absolute freedom (that ignores social needs) or strict economic equality (that is the domain of economic justice specifically). It covers eradication of poverty, illiteracy, and discrimination.

Legal Theory

The Legal Theory of Justice identifies the concept of justice entirely with the working of courts and the administration of law. According to this theory, the magistrate interprets the law, determines guilt, and awards punishment. Thinkers like Hobbes, Bentham, Austin, and Dicey support this view. It leads to the concept of 'Rule of Law' as described by Dicey. The Philosophical Theory deals with abstract ideals, the Natural Theory with divine/natural law, and the Marxian Theory with class domination.