Chapter 5: Is Justice for
All Possible?
Introduction
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Is a just society possible?
What are human rights?
Common problems:
• Racism
• Sexism
• Homophobia
• Terrorism
• Environmental issues
Universal Human Rights
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Universal Declaration of Human
Rights adopted by UN on Dec. 10,
1948, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt
Human Rights in the “Age of
Discovery”
René Trujillo
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Moral reflection occurred as Spanish
conquered the indigenous peoples of
the “New World”
Human rights and human dignity
were major subjects of thought for
the philosophers of the day
While the “Age of Discovery” was
marked by brutality, it forced people
to think about human rights issues
United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
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Attempts to define universal human rights
and promote observance of them
Focuses on equality and fair treatment
Affirms rights to property, nationality,
marriage and family, religion and thought,
peaceable assembly, participation in
government, social security, work, rest,
healthy standard of living, education,
cultural expression
Everyone is subject to limitations of law in
order to respect rights and freedoms of
others
Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia
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Distinction between individual and
institutional racism, sexism, and
homophobia
The institutional form refers to
injustice on the part of an official
agency or various organizations
Ain’t I a Woman
bell hooks
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Author bell hooks is an African American
woman and influential social critic
Writes her name in all lowercase to
symbolize her skepticism about the
importance of fame
Asserts that women have been socialized
to think of racism solely in terms of racial
hatred without regard to racial imperialism
Refutes the idea that all women in
America have the same social status
Race Matters
Cornel West
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“The fundamental crisis in black
America is twofold: too much poverty
and too little self-love.”
Redistributive measures have helped,
but have not been sufficient for those
with greatest need
The search for black identity is
crucial in order to achieve racial
equality
Homophobia as a Weapon of
Sexism
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Suzanne Pharr
Patriarchy is the ideology and sexism
is the system that promotes
homophobia
The weapons of sexism are
economics, violence, and
homophobia
Homophobia is a weapon of sexism
because homosexuals threaten a
male dominated society
Homophobia as a Weapon of
Sexism
Suzanne Pharr
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Those who are vulnerable to homophobia
suffer losses in:
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Employment
Family
Children
Heterosexual privilege and protection
Safety
Mental health
Community
Credibility
Globalization and Justice
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Two forces of global events:
• Disintegration of people due to aganda
of self-determination
• Integration through telecommunication
and globalization which the world more
interconnected and interdependent than
ever
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Is a global ethic of justice possible?
Should there be a one world system
of government?
One World: Ethics of Globalization
Peter Singer
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National leaders must examine how
their actions affect the rest of the
world
Globalization has occurred through
technology, the economy, and threat
of terrorism
How should we respond ethically to
the idea that we live in one world?
Terrorism and Morality
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Terrorists often justify the use of
violence for what they believe is a
“just cause”
There are differing definitions of
what is just
Why Terrorism Is Morally
Problematic
Bat-Ami Bar On
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Terrorism produces psychologically
and morally diminished people
Argues that terrorism is morally
wrong because of its cruelty, not
because its cause is unjust
Justice and the Land
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Humans are a part of an ecologically
interdependent system that places
moral obligations on them with
respect to the land and animals
The Land Ethic
Aldo Leopold
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The land and everything it sustains
are a part of a community of
interdependent parts that must
cooperate
The “land ethic” sees man as a plain
member and citizen of this
community
Conservation is a state of harmony
between men and land
The Land Ethic
Aldo Leopold
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Land as an energy circuit
• Land is not merely soil
• Native plants and animals kept the
energy circuit open; others may or may
not
• Man-made changes are of a different
order than evolutionary changes and
have greater effects than are intended
or foreseen
Animal Rights
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Do humans have an obligation or
duty to animals? Why?
Is it only wrong to harm animals
when it is against the interest of
humans?
Do animals have any intrinsic or
inherent rights?
The Case for Animal Rights
Tom Regan
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Goals of Animal Rights movement
• Total abolition of the use of animals in
science
• Total dissolution of commercial animal
agriculture
• Total elimination of commercial and
sport hunting and trapping
The Case for Animal Rights
Tom Regan
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The “rights view” – denies the moral
tolerability of any and all forms of racial,
sexual, or social discrimination and denies
that we can justify good results by evil
means that violate individual rights
The rights view should not be limited to
humans
Animals have inherent value because they
are also “experiencing subjects of a life”