Ethics 2

utilitarian view of a right

Mill says that to have a right to something is to have a valid claim on society to protect me in the possession of that thing, either by the force of law or through education

Nozick's third and final principle

states that one can justly acquire a holding only in accord with the two principles previously discussed. if you come by a holding in some other way, you are not entitled to it.

corporate welfare

subsidies and tariffs set by federal and state governments to assist businesses and protects it from competition. it gives huge amounts of money to companies to keep competitors from competing.

declining marginal utility of income

successive additions to one's income produce, on average, less happiness or welfare than did earlier additions

key features of capitalism

the existence of companies, profit motive, competition, and private property

comparative advantage

the goods that a place/country can produce as a lower opportunity cost than other places/countries. it can produce more cheaply relative to other goods than is the case in other countries.

globalized capitalism

the increasingly worldwide scale of capitalism leads many contemporary commentators to see this.

basic structure

fundamental social institutions and their arrangement into one scheme

utilitarianism and economic distribution

1) type of economic ownership, private, public, mixed. 2) the way of organizing production and distribution in general, pure laissez faire, markets with government planning and regulation, fully centralized planning. 3) type of authority arrangements within the units of production, worker control versus managerial prerogative. 4) the range and character of material incentives. 5) the nature and extent of social security and welfare provisions

Troubled Assets Relief Program(TARP)

700 billion dollar program created in 2008 by the federal government that enabled the government to purchase non-liquid, difficult-to-value assets from banks and other financial institutions, in particular, so-called collateralized debt obligations, which had been hit hard by foreclosures caused by the real estate slump.

short-term focus

U.S. corporations govern themselves for more by indicators such as share value and quarterly profits. this makes them unimaginative, inflexible, and ultimately uncompetitive.

oligopolies

a concentration of property and resources, and thus economic power, in the hands of a few. high costs, complex and expensive machinery, intense competition, and the advantages of large-scale production all work against the survival of small firms.

globalization

although capitalism has always involved international trade, today-thanks to the computer, the internet, satellites, cell phones, and other technological advances-the economies of most countries are becoming more and more integrated, labeling this process as this.

socialism

an economic system characterized by public ownership of property and a planned economy. a society's productive equipment is owned by public bodies.

libertarian view of liberty

are for economic laissez faire and against any governmental economic activity. their commitment to an unrestricted free market reflects the priority of liberty over other values. do not value liberty in the mundane sense of people's freedom to do what they want to do. rather, libertarians understand freedom in terms of their theory of rights, thus building a commitment to private property into their concept of liberty. private property is necessary for freedom. any society that doesn't respect private property rights is coercive.

capital

as an economic concept, is closely related to private property. it is money that is invested for the purpose of making more money.

original position

ask what we would choose as the fundamental principles to govern society if, hypothetically, we were to meet for this purpose.

industrial capitalism

associated with large scale industry. in the united states, the confluence of many factors after the civil war-including a sound financial base, the technology for mass production, expanding markets for cheaply manufactured goods, and a large and willing labor force-produced expansion

lockean rights

both negative and natural. negative because they require only that people forbear from acting in certain ways-in particular, that we refrain from interfering with others. We are not obliged to do anything positive for anyone else, nor is anyone required to do anything positive for us. we are forbidden to interfere with a person's liberty.

outsource

buy part or whole products from other producers, both at home and abroad. this leaves many companies as just a host of profit-making functions-from design to distribution-but lack their own production base.

companies/corporations

capitalism permits these to exist separately from the people associated with them. an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in the contemplation of law.

theoretical criticism

challenge capitalism's fundamental values, basic assumptions, or inherent economic tendencies.

Nozick's first principle

concerns the original acquisition of holdings- that is, the appropriation of unheld goods or the creation of new goods. individuals are morally entitled to the products of their labor.

Nozick's second principle

concerns transfers of already-owned goods from one person to another: how people may legitimately transfer holdings to others and how they may legitimately get holdings from others.

criticisms of capitalism

creates inequality of income, human nature and capitalism is not related, capitalism breeds oligopolies, corporate welfare programs protect businesses, competition is not a good, creates exploitation and alienation.

capitalism

defined as an economic system that operates on the basis of profit and market exchange and in which the major means of production and distribution are in private hands

Rawl's two principles

each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all. Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: First, they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members of society.

financial capitalism

emerged from various industries that strove to strengthen their financing and shore up their assets. characterized by pools, trusts, holding companies, and the interpenetration of banking, insurance, and industrial interests.

mercantile capitalism

emerged in Fugger's time. It is based on mutual dependence between state and commercial interests. central belief that the economic health of a nation is determined by the bullion, precious metals, gold and silver, it possesses and that therefore government should regulate production and trade with the goal of encouraging exports while keeping out imports, thus building up the nation's bullion reserves

worker participation

enable people to work with or for one another in relations not involving dependence.

operational criticism

focus on capitalism's alleged deficiencies in actual practice (as opposed to theory)-in particular, on its failure to live up to its own economic ideals.

state welfare capitalism

government plays an active role in the economy , attempting to smooth out the boom-and-bust pattern of the business cycle through its fiscal and monetary policies. influenced by the economic and political challenges of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

libertarianism

identifies justice with an ideal of liberty. Liberty is the prime value, and justice consists in permitting each person to live as he or she pleases, free from the interference of others. philosophy of personal liberty-the liberty of each person to live according to his own choices, provided he does not attempt to coerce others and thus prevent them from living according to their choices.

profit motive

implies and reflects a critical assumption about human nature: that human beings are basically economic creatures, who recognize and are motivated by their own economic interests

hollow corporations

in contrast to companies that in years past were identified with making goods of all sorts now are likely to produce only the package an label.

primary social goods

include not only income and wealth but also rights, liberties, opportunities, status, and self-respect.

Rawl's theory of justice

is generally thought to be the most influential work of the post-world war II period in social and political philosophy. presented as a modern alternative to utilitarianism, one that he hopes will be compatible with the belief that justice must be associated with fairness and the moral equality of persons.

difference principle

it is the distinctive core of Rawl's theory. states that inequalities are justifies only if they work to the benefit of the least-advantaged members of society.

entitlement theory

maintains that people are entitled to their holdings that is, goods, money, and property as long as they have acquired them fairly. based off of lockean rights.

justice

often used to mean fairness. frequently concerns the fair treatment of members of groups of people or else looks backward to the fair compensation of prior injuries. typically focuses on one of several related ideas: fairness, equality, desert and rights.

veil of ignorance

people in the original position know nothing about themselves personally or about what their individual situation will be once the rules are chosen and the veil is lifted. people in the original position have no knowledge about themselves or their situation that would lead them to argue from a partial or biased point of view. forces people to be objective and impartial and makes agreement possible.

desert

people should get what they deserve. receive his or her due

maximin rule

people should select the alternative under which the worst that could happen to you is better that the worst that could happen to you under any other alternative-that is, you should try to maximize the minimum that you will receive.

state of nature

prior to the formation of government, property rights were limited not only by the requirement that one not waste what one claimed, but also by the restrictions that enough and as good be left for others-that is, that one's appropriation not make others worse off.

distributive justice

the proper distribution of social benefits and burdens, in particular economic benefits and burdens.

competition

the regulator that keeps a community activated only by self-interest from degenerating into a mob of ruthless profiteers. if anyone allows blind self-interest to dictate out actions-for example, by price gouging or employee exploitation-will quickly find themselves beaten out by a competitor who, lets say, charges less and pays better wage, thus regulating individual economic activity.

alienation

the separation of individuals from the objects they create, which in turn results in one's separation from other people, from oneself, and ultimately from one's human nature. as the fruits of workers labor are enjoyed by someone else, their work ultimately proves meaningless to them.

basic distribution principles

to each an equal share, to each according to individual need, to each according to personal effort, to each according to social contribution and to each according to merit.

property rights

what you have legitimately acquired is yours to do with as you will. is not restricted to material objects like cars, watches, or houses. it may include abstract goods, interests, and claims. involves a bundle of different rights governing one's ability to possess, use, manage, dispose of, or restrict other's access to something in certain specified ways.

work ethic

work for you own sake, seeing it as something necessary for every person. emphasizes the belief that hard work pays off in the end and is thus part and parcel of the american dream. however only one in three people believe this, 60% down from a survey in 1960.

exploitation

workers have nothing to sell but their labor, so the bourgeoisie/corporations is able to take advantage of them by paying them less than the true value created by their labor. lets capitalists make a profit and increase their capital.

Hans Fugger

young german man who changed the guild system by collecting and selling the products of other weavers. he directly employed weavers, paying them for their labor and selling their products as his own. In three generations their family created a german banking dynasty.