week 5

To achieve true justice, we must also achieve true equality as there can not be one without the other. However it can be argued that true justice and equality can never be achieved, as people have different ideas of what justice and equality really are. So what is perfectly equal for some people, may not be enough to others. One type of distributive justice that we learned about is utilitarianism. The basis of utilitarianism is the idea that there is only justice if the set of norms and regulations work to increase the well being of all people. However even with this there are always going to be people who receive more advantages than others, which would still make it not completely fair and equal. Due to the unequal distribution, a new theory was put to the test: the contract theory. The contract theory was created in order to create “fair” distribution. The theory is based on the idea of the “veil of ignorance,” a theory that basically creates a fair distribution by making unknowns before the person can even pick or choose which set of rules and norms they were going to have to live by. This theory was created on the assumption that if people don’t know their starting point and who they were to become, then they would choose a set of rules and norms that were as equal as possible, so that they would not get the short end of the stick and everything were as equal as possible. This theory can only be possible through equal behavior however, and is just that, a theory. Another theory is “communitarian.” It relates to what it sounds like, a community, as it states that people must band together and achieve equality through socially held values. Personally I do not believe any of these theories are possible or even logical. I honestly wish that everything were equal though, but with billions of people comes billions of different ideas of fair and standards of living. There are all to many people that are just too selfish and even narcissistic to even want a fair and equal world. For any of these to even happen, it would require literally everyone to agree on what is equal, right, and fair. That is something that just simply will never happen. Through teamwork and working together, much is possible. However I must state that total equality and fairness is certainly just a pipe dream.