Skip to main content
grasp.study
Explore
Log in
Get started
Someone wanted to learn this too, so Grasp built them a personal learning path.
Create your own
Pluralism and Natural Justice
Module 1
Foundational Concepts and Meta-Ethics of Justice
1
Domains of Justice
Distinguish between major domains of justice: distributive, corrective, retributive, and procedural.
2
Consequentialism vs. Deontology in Justice
Explain the difference between consequentialist and deontological approaches to justice.
3
The Is-Ought Problem and Justice
Describe the is-ought problem and its implications for deriving justice principles.
4
Natural vs. Social Justice: A Core Tension
Frame the core tension between 'natural justice' (based on desert, entitlement, or natural law) and 'social justice' (based on fairness, equality, or social goals).
5
Monism vs. Pluralism in Value Theory
Identify monist versus pluralist approaches to value (single supreme value vs multiple incommensurable values).
6
Justice: Intersecting Values
Analyze the relationship between justice and other primary values like liberty, equality, and welfare.
Module 2
Classical and Natural Law Conceptions
7
Plato's Justice: Psychic Harmony and the Ideal State
Explain Plato's theory of justice as psychic harmony and right ordering of the state.
8
Aristotle's Distributive and Corrective Justice
Describe Aristotle's conception of justice, distinguishing between distributive justice (proportional to merit) and corrective justice.
9
Natural Law: Reason, Telos, and Justice
Explain the core tenets of natural law theory, where justice is derived from reason and human nature (telos).
10
Locke's Property Rights: Self-Ownership, Labor, and Natural Justice
Analyze Locke's derivation of property rights from self-ownership and labor, as a foundation for natural justice.
11
Religious vs. Secular Natural Law
Compare religious natural law (grounded in divine order) with secular natural law (grounded in rational human nature).
12
Natural Law: Bridging Positive and Moral Law
Apply natural law reasoning to evaluate conflicts between positive law and moral law.
Module 3
The Social Contract and Rawlsian Justice
13
Hobbes's Collective Action: State of Nature & Social Contract
Analyze Hobbes's state of nature as a collective action problem and the social contract as an equilibrium solution.
14
Rousseau's General Will: Collective Sovereignty vs. Individual Liberty
Describe Rousseau's concept of the 'general will' and its complex relationship to individual liberty and collective sovereignty.
15
Consent & Legitimacy: Rawls vs. Locke
Distinguish hypothetical consent (Rawls) from tacit/actual consent (Locke) as foundations for political legitimacy.
16
Rawls's Original Position and Veil of Ignorance
Analyze the function of the original position and the veil of ignorance in Rawls's 'A Theory of Justice'.
17
Rawls's Principles of Justice: The Difference Principle Explained
Explain Rawls's two principles of justice, with a focus on the justification for the 'difference principle'.
18
Critiquing Rawls: Libertarian and Communitarian Perspectives
Critique the assumptions of Rawls's model from both libertarian and communitarian perspectives.
Module 4
Utilitarianism and Consequentialist Justice
19
Utilitarianism: Act, Rule, and Preference
Distinguish act, rule, and preference utilitarianism and their differing implications for justice.
20
Utilitarianism and the Separateness of Persons
Analyze the 'separateness of persons' objection against utilitarian aggregation.
21
Prioritarianism: Prioritizing the Worse-Off in Utilitarianism
Explain how prioritarianism modifies utilitarianism to give greater weight to the worse-off.
22
Utilitarianism vs. Prioritarianism in Policy
Compare utilitarian and prioritarian approaches to a policy problem, such as healthcare allocation.
23
Arrow's Theorem and the Limits of Social Welfare
Analyze the implications of Arrow's Impossibility Theorem for the philosophical project of aggregating preferences into a social welfare function.
Module 5
Libertarianism and Entitlement Theory
24
Nozick's Entitlement Theory: Acquisition, Transfer, and Rectification
Explain Nozick's entitlement theory based on just acquisition, transfer, and rectification.
25
Process vs. Outcome Justice
Distinguish historical principles (process-based) from end-state or patterned principles (outcome-based) of justice.
26
Wilt Chamberlain and Distributive Justice
Analyze the Wilt Chamberlain argument against patterned theories of distributive justice.
27
Negative vs. Positive Rights: State Implications
Distinguish negative rights from positive rights and their different implications for the scope and function of the state.
28
Evaluating State Functions Through a Libertarian Lens
Apply libertarian principles to evaluate the legitimacy of state functions like taxation and regulation.
29
Comparing Minarchism, Anarcho-Capitalism, and Classical Liberalism
Compare minimal state libertarianism (minarchism) with anarcho-capitalism and classical liberalism.
Module 6
Institutional Pluralism and the Balance of Power
30
Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers
Explain Montesquieu's separation of powers as a mechanism for preventing tyranny through institutional competition.
31
Tocqueville on Intermediate Associations
Describe Tocqueville's analysis of intermediate associations as buffers between the individual and the state.
32
Medieval Constitutionalism & Jurisdictional Pluralism
Analyze medieval constitutionalism and the pluralism of competing jurisdictions (e.g., church, crown, guilds) as a historical model for liberty.
33
Understanding Subsidiarity and Authority Allocation
Explain the principle of subsidiarity and its allocation of authority to the most local competent level.
34
Polycentric Governance: Benefits of Overlapping Authorities
Describe polycentric governance and the potential benefits of overlapping, competing authorities.
35
Institutional Pluralism and Individual Liberty
Apply institutional pluralism to analyze how the balance between state, market, and civil society affects individual liberty.
Module 7
Republican Justice as Non-Domination
36
Freedom As Non-Domination
Explain the republican conception of freedom as 'non-domination' and distinguish it from 'non-interference' (negative liberty).
37
The Shadow of Power: Unfreedom Through Capacity
Analyze how the mere capacity for arbitrary power creates unfreedom, even without actual interference.
38
Republicanism: Safeguarding Liberty from Domination
Describe the republican emphasis on the rule of law, constitutional safeguards, and civic virtue as remedies for domination.
39
Republicanism and Modern Domination
Apply republican principles to evaluate sources of domination in modern society, such as in market relations or administrative states.
40
Republican Non-Domination vs. Other Freedoms and Equality
Compare republican non-domination with positive liberty, negative liberty, and relational equality.
Module 8
Value Pluralism and its Political Implications
41
Isaiah Berlin's Value Pluralism
Explain Isaiah Berlin's value pluralism and the thesis that fundamental human values can genuinely and irreconcilably conflict.
42
Incommensurability vs. Incomparability vs. Difficulty of Comparison
Distinguish incommensurability from incomparability and from mere difficulty of comparison.
43
Navigating Tragic Choices: Sacrificing Core Values
Analyze 'tragic choice' situations where any course of action involves sacrificing a core value.
44
Value Pluralism vs. Monistic Justice Theories
Evaluate how value pluralism challenges monistic theories of justice (e.g., strict utilitarianism, libertarianism).
45
Value Pluralism and Liberal Tolerance
Explain why value pluralism can provide a justification for liberal institutions that tolerate diverse conceptions of the good life.
Module 9
Communitarian and Perfectionist Critiques
46
Communitarianism and the Unencumbered Self
Explain the communitarian critique of liberal individualism and the 'unencumbered self'.
47
MacIntyre: Justice as Tradition-Dependent
Describe Alasdair MacIntyre's argument that justice is a tradition-dependent concept, internal to specific practices and communities.
48
Perfectionism and Justice
Analyze perfectionist theories that ground justice in the state's role in promoting human excellence or a specific conception of the good life.
49
Neutrality vs. Perfectionism: The State's Role
Distinguish the liberal ideal of state neutrality from state perfectionism.
50
Communitarianism and the Limits of Liberal Universalism
Use the communitarian critique to re-evaluate the universalist claims of liberal and libertarian theories.
Module 10
Proceduralism and Political Legitimacy
51
Procedural Justice: Beyond Outcomes
Explain procedural justice as the fairness of decision-making processes, sometimes independent of outcomes.
52
Justifying Democratic Authority
Distinguish consent-based, fairness-based, and epistemic justifications for democratic authority.
53
Epistemic Proceduralism: Blending Instrumental and Intrinsic Democratic Value
Describe epistemic proceduralism and its attempt to combine the instrumental and intrinsic value of democratic procedures.
54
Evaluating Voting Systems Through a Procedural Justice Lens
Apply principles of procedural justice to evaluate different voting systems (e.g., majority rule, supermajority, consensus).
55
Procedural Legitimacy and Political Authority
Analyze the role of procedural legitimacy in justifying political authority when citizens disagree on substantive justice.
Module 11
Synthesis: Analyzing Societal Architectures
56
Universalism vs. Particularism: A Trade-Off Analysis
Analyze the trade-off between universal liberal principles and the value of particularist community bonds.
57
Constitutional Structures: Balancing Sovereignty & Rights
Compare how different constitutional structures (e.g., majoritarian vs. consensus-based) balance popular sovereignty with minority rights.
58
Market, State, and Society: Power and Core Values
Evaluate how the relative power of market institutions versus political and civil society institutions affects liberty, equality, and community.
59
Societal Values: The Interplay of State, Church, Market, and Family
Assess how the relative strength of state, church, market, and family creates different 'value equilibria' in a society.
60
Modeling Societal Values Architectures
Synthesize concepts from the course to model how different societal architectures systematically prioritize or sacrifice fundamental values like liberty, security, truth, and cohesion.
61
Designing for Freedom and Diversity: The "Least Bad" Institutions
Formulate a reasoned argument about the 'least bad' institutional arrangements for a society of free and diverse individuals.