Rule No. 4
In class yesterday we discussed six rules that define the contractarian bargainers. We discussed some of them in detail. One of them that I think we passed over too quickly was number four – Do they know who they are? It seemed as though the general consensus was that it would be best if they did not know. However, I think that it is plausible that the bargainers knowing their identities would yield good results as well.
If they knew their identities – what jobs they had, how well off they were socio-economically, their relationships, etc – they could be representatives of different walks of life. For the rules to protect everyone’s rights equally I think it would be beneficial to get the input from people from across the spectrum. While being objective and not being influenced by forces outside of objective morality would yield seemingly good rules, I think that the rules agreed upon by those people with different perspectives would also have similar good results. In both cases unanimously agreed upon rules may be impossible, or at least improbable, but in both cases good results can be produced.
posted by Jen Ming at
4:18 AM
1 Comments:
I agree that it is plausible that the bargainers know who they are; however, if this is the case, there needs to be other restrictions on the bargainers. Imagine if all the bargainers knew who they were and were also egoists. If they were from all different backgrounds, the bargainers would doubtfully ever agree on anything. Egoists knowing that they were extremely poor would have much stronger moral requirements on giving to the needy, while well-off egoists would insist that morality does not require that of us. However, if the bargainers were consequentialists in nature, than knowing who they are would not be detrimental. In this case, I feel it would be beneficial to have the opinions of different groups. With views from all different ways of life, the group of bargainers could empathize better with each class and make better decisions of what needs to be done to produce the greatest good. Even if we assume bargainers with full knowledge, and they already know the situations of each socioeconomic class, it is much different to be in that class than to just know about it. Thus, with consequentialist bargainers is would be beneficial for the bargainers to know who they are. However, if the bargainers turn out to be egoist, this knowledge could be detrimental. In either case, I want to take a moment to note that at the base of contractualism there still has to be another foundational theory for it to be stacked on. The bargainers in this sort of theory still need a theory to look to in making their contracts. Thus, alone, contractarianism is an inadequate foundational theory.
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Christa, at 8:51 AM
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