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Overview of module content:

 Some concepts analysed in philosophical texts are relevant not only to the theories in which they appear, but are also relevant to society itself. One of these is ‘justice’. Since this module exposes students to a study of concepts, issues and debates in social and political philosophy it is perfectly poised to investigate ‘justice’.  

In particular, this module will only focus on socio-economic justice. Different political theories have distinct concepts of socio-economic justice (from now referred to only as ‘justice’). For instance, liberalism connects justice to individual freedom, and suggests that all other types of justice are a function of individual freedom. So, for liberalism, justice is dependent on political structures which maximise the freedoms and human rights of the individual. But such a conception of justice, others argue, leads to injustice in society as it does not account for a range of socio-economic inequalities which naturally occur in free societies. For these theorists, justice cannot be tied to individual freedom but should rather be tied to concepts of community, or communitarianism, or communism.

 To this end the student will investigate various academic papers; analysing distinct political philosophies and their conceptions of justice.

 Learning outcomes:

 By the end of this part of the module the student will be able to:

        I.          Discuss Marx’s idea of capital, or capitalism, as a source of social dysfunction (which will be interpreted as ‘injustice’ in this module)

      II.          Discuss Rawl’s concept of justice and fairness, as underpinned by his liberalism

    III.          Discuss Letseka’s critique of Rawlsian justice as compatible with an Ubuntu conception of justice, even though Ubuntu is a communitarian theory

   IV.          Discuss Young’s criticism of socio-economic justice as redistribution, and her advocacy of a pluralist, or multifaceted view of justice

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