Introduction
“Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” is a book that discusses the theory of justice and the diverse ways in which it is perceived by different people in the society. The author, Michael Sandel, tries to force the reader to look into the circumstances that happen in real life and allows them to make the decisions on the right thing to do.
Sandel pushes his readers into tracking their personal moral obligations by laying a series of challenges based on everyday situations, which help them make the best resolutions on the right actions to take. In this essay, the first five chapters of the book are reviewed based on the main concepts.
Chapter review
In Chapter 1, titled “doing the right thing”, three cases are presented. Case one concern the laws prohibiting gauging of prices. Precisely, it refers to the price changes that came into effect subsequent to the Florida’s Hurricane Charley. As clarified by Sandel, the arguments in support to and in contrast to price-gauging laws are based on three concepts: well-being, liberty and virtue.
He then discusses about who is eligible for the “Purple Heart”. In determining this, people need to know precisely which qualities are necessary to deserve this honor. The final case is regarding the latest bailout that came after the financial crisis.
Specifically, he discusses about the feelings of different people towards the bonuses awarded to the executives of the companies involved. Even though some felt that the bonuses were justified, most individuals thought it was unfair primarily because they compensated failure rather than success.
The author describes three conceptions of justice that aids in understanding how decisions are made and he discusses them all through the book. Utilitarianism, also described as capitalization on welfare, is the first conception. This is followed by another conception regarding liberty and personal rights. The last conception discusses the idea that justice is associated with virtue and a decent life in general.
Before recounting the various concepts of justice, Sandel also discusses what are described as the moral dilemmas. These can be clarified by applying ethics in the reasoning process, which directs every individual in different ways dependent on their characters and the manner in which they deliberate and justify their decisions. In this case, clashes may result from partial reasoning or contradictory moral obligations.
Chapter two, labeled “The Greatest Happiness Principle or Utilitarianism”, deliberates over the idea of utilitarianism by relating two various attitudes. First is the idea of Jeremy Bentham. The idea concentrates on getting maximum pleasure and lessening pain so as to make the most out of the overall utility. In this notion, the rights of a person may be disregarded, like in the incident of torture.
The idea of John Stuart Mill presents the second concept of utilitarianism. According to Mill, people are at liberty in doing whatever they need to as long as it does not cause any damage to others. In addition, he is argues that there are superior and inferior pleasures (Sandel, 2010).
Chapter three, “Do We Own Ourselves or Libertarianism”, argues that there should be minimal supervision and every individual should have the freedom of choosing the right action to take in different situations. According Sandel, libertarians are against authoritarianism, moral regulation and redeployment of income.
For instance, libertarianism opponents claim that tax system is necessary since everybody needs to contribute towards the welfare of the society. Similarly, they argue that wealthy persons need to give back part of their riches since it was generated by the society.
The author then deliberates on the implications associated with purchasing and retailing of organs. Sandel then reflects on the market and moralities and ways in which an open market may be founded on either sovereignty or wellbeing.
In chapter four, “markets and morals”, Sandel talks about the morals of forfeiting persons to do various kinds of work, like fighting in wars and giving birth to children. The debate is whether there is need for market, where currency is involved, to the feature of morals. The best example presented by the author in this section is “remuneration for pregnancy”.
Deliberating through the moralities and injustices in this instance aids in clarifying the variations amongst the leading philosophies of justice. In his opinion, it is not necessary for an individual to demand pay for certain services because of morals.
Chapter five, “What Matters is the Motive”, the author draws the attention of the reader towards understanding why motive is necessary. He does this by explaining the idea of Kant. He argues that morality concerns with respect to people, regardless of who they are.
This involves doing the correct thing simply because it is right. Sandel then argues for the idea of egalitarianism based on the perception of John Rawls. Similarly, he clarifies how it is different from the concept of libertarianism and utilitarianism. According to Rawl, people need fairness with regard to fundamental freedoms and societal and financial life.
Reference
Sandel, M. J. (2010). Justice: What’s the right thing to do?. London: Penguin Books.