Examples Of Distributive Justice

As humans, we have innate and strongly held feelings regarding what we consider fair. This idea of fairness is held in high regard by many people and can greatly affect their satisfaction in life. Fairness is fundamental to our ideas of justice. There are two concepts of justice that people hold. These are retributive justice and distributive justice. Retributive justice concerns the distribution of rewards and punishments based on what people deserve. This type of justice is applied on an individual basis. Distributive justice, on the other hand, is applied across society and is the type of justice that directly appeals to our sense of fairness in life. Distributive justice concerns the distribution of benefits in society, as well as the

One of the most widely accepted versions of utilitarianism is J.S. Mills Greatest Happiness Principle. This states that something is moral if it maximizes overall happiness. Julia Driver raises an objection to this principle and its application in distributive justice. She says that “Utilitarianism seems incompatible with some of our strongly held intuitions about justice” (pg. 61). This is referring to her interpretation of the type of distribution utilitarianism would promote. She argues that the application of utilitarianism would lead to distribution that does not appeal to most people’s sense of distributive justice and

61) I believe this is true because utilitarianism, by principle, completely disregards the importance of fairness. Utilitarianism says that happiness is all that matters when considering the morality of a situation. This is frankly inconsistent with the beliefs of many because most people believe that there is something more to morality than just happiness. Most people believe a society is just, not based on the total happiness it produces, but based on the fairness of distribution. Are everyone’s basic needs met? Are their gross inequalities in society? Are people getting what they deserve? All of these questions are relevant to people’s ideas regarding the justness of a society, but utilitarianism thinks these questions do no matter. Also, even if a utilitarian disagreed with Driver’s conclusion, it would be based on the fact that she misunderstands the utility produced in her given example, not because there is something innately wrong with her nonegalitarian society. Most people believe that there is something innately wrong with a society structured in this sense, but a utilitarian wouldn’t, and so I think Driver is correct in saying that utilitarianism does not align with most people’s sense of distributive