Social and Political Philosophy: Final thoughts on Libertarianism verses Rawls as implemented by massive government

Hi Social and Political philosophers!

Would you help the poor if They (.gov) didn't make you?

Would you teach them to "fish"? Or just keep sending checks?

Here we meet Nozick v Rawls again, Libertarianism v Rawlsian steel cage death-match. A bit of review: And they mean it. Recall the two distinctions, 1) End-state Justice and 2) Historical Justice. We also meet the mythology (in the worse way) of the Social Contract. At this point we have to decide: Would a “minimal government” (Nozick) be a better, a correct, vision of justice, instead of a “massive government” (Rawls and our social-political life today). Nozick would reject some sort of Political Obligation, where you’re are morallyobligated to obey the laws simply because they are the laws. Social contract theory is a version of Political Obligation: Again, you must obey the laws simply because they are the laws.

So what about the welfare state, where, following Rawls, government tries to make the worst off as best off as possible (Rawls’ principle 2b)? Nozick believes, like most Libertarians, there are many reasons why Libertarianism will do a far better job, in our world of new, remarkable prosperity, than Rawls, as Rawls is usually implemented, uses powerful, massive government. Nozick has to be understood as giving a certain kind of moral argument against “utopian” or “massive” government. So the outcome is ultimately not a matter of the consequences of the system, but the moral, just structure of the system. The form it takes. And Nozick argues this form must be “minimal” government. And, he believes, in our world today, as it happens, “maximum” kindness on the part of each of us.

So enough review.

The Big Question: Does Nozick actually offer a better way to fulfill Rawls 2b? To make the worst off as best off as we can?

That’s an important choice for us. It’s the choice between our Massive government world  with it's massive taxes (+50% of our money when you add it all up) and Liberaltarianism.

Cheers~

Dr. Lee Basham