Contemporary Moral Problems

Book Review Chapter 1: Ethical Theories:

Annette Baier: The Need for More Than Justice

Library Reference: N/A

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0534584306/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233793391&sr=8-1

Quote:  “justice perspective by itself is inadequate as a moral theory, it overlooks inequalities between people (parent-child relationships), it has an unrealistic view of freedom of choice, and she says that it ignores the importance of moral emotions such as love”

    The fact that she stated that it has an unrealistic view of freedom of choice and ignores love, I think that it is wrong, because I very much value love.

Learning Expectation:

    As we all know it, even though there are laws and rules and even courts that will make justifications, sometimes, that justice given is just not even enough. Sometimes, justice doesn’t even prevail. Injustice is so strong and hard to stop without everybody cooperating. If only everybody coordinates then that will only be the time when real justice can prevail.

Review:

    This is the last sub-chapter of chapter one, which is all about Ethical Theories. In this chapter, more things and philosophies regarding justice will be taken into discussion. Funny cause as I have said that justice is just not enough, I guess that the discussion of justice in one sub-chapter is just not enough.

In this chapter, Annette Baier will be talking us through about the need for more justice. To give you a background on the author, Baier is another professor who teaches philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of A Progress of Sentiments: Reflection on Hume’s Treatise and Moral Prejudices: Essays on Ethics.

Following another philosopher named Carol Gilligan, Baier distinguishes between the justice perspective of philosophers such as Kant and Rawls and the care perspective Gilligan found in her studies of the moral development of women. It is said that Baier argues that the justice perspective by itself is inadequate as a moral theory. She said that it overlooks inequalities between people (parent-child relationships), it has an unrealistic view of freedom of choice, and she says that it ignores the importance of moral emotions such as love, which I find important in my opinion. Although some philosophers don’t actually believe in love and have their own philosophical theory. There are actually two perspectives, which is care and justice. Baier stated that women would most likely choose justice perspective rather than care because care is a woman's role in life. Women give birth and all women take care of their child. Well, that excludes those who abort or abandon their child.

What I’ve learned:

    So basically this chapter is also about justice but in a different perspective as it tackles more on the women’s side.

Questions:

1.    Why does justice perspective have an unrealistic view (e.g. love)?

2.    Will justice be enough?

3.    What if it is not justice that we need but something more than justice?

4.    Why does that Kantian view states that reason should control unruly passions?

5.    Is Kantian wrong?

Citation: (James E. White, St. Cloud State University, 2003)