Critical Legal Thinking in Philosophy. The Theories of Bentham, Rawl and Nozick

“All men think justice to be a sort of equality… But there still remains a question: equality or inequality of what?”

Essay , 2013 , 26 Pages , Grade: 2.1

Law - Philosophy, History and Sociology of Law

Aristotle’s quotation attempts to link the concepts of equality and justice together to ascertain equality or inequality. Justice and equality, however, can be seen as two separate concepts and it is up for debate as to whether justice is a sort of equality. This leads to the more insightful question, what is justice? And how can it be achieved?

In Aristotle’s quotation there is the mention of men, this raises the question; what about women? Surely if justice was linked with equality, which is often linked with nondiscrimination,
it would include women being able to achieve justice. It is important to consider that Aristotle wrote in 300-400BC, when women were subordinate and slaves were permitted, when looking into his theories. Aristotle argued that there were two forms of justice; distribution the giving of honours and money and rectification which was more corrective and righting wrongs. Aristotle also looked at ‘the purpose’ argument, what was the purpose and that satisfaction arises from fulfilling this role.

This essay will look at more recent theorists and their theories and to what justice may be and how to achieve it. In particular, this essay will focus on a utilitarian viewpoint using the theories of Jeremy Bentham and in contrast a Libertarian viewpoint using the theory of Robert Nozick. In addition to these two leading theorists,this essay will also look into the theory of the social contract from modern philosopher John Rawls.

Contents

Introduction

Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism

John Rawls’ Social Contract Theory

Robert Nozick’s Libertarianism

Theories in Context

Conclusion

Bibliography

• College: Nottingham Trent University (Nottingham Law School)
• Course: LL.B (Hons)
• Grade: 2.1
• Author: Pete Underwood (Author)
• Publication Year: 2013
• Pages: 26
• Catalog Number: V294221
• ISBN (eBook): 9783656919698
• ISBN (Book): 9783656919704
• Language: English
• Tags: Philosophy, Justice, Critical Legal Thinking, Bentham, Aristotle, John Rawl, Robert Nozick