Why pure procedural justice doesnât remove the individual responsibility to make right economic judgments

A. el-Wakil

Why pure procedural justice doesnât remove the individual responsibility to make right economic judgments

In: The ethics of consumption

Author:

A. el-Wakil

A. el-Wakil University of Geneva, Av. Des Cavaliers 19, 1224 ChÃªne-Bougeries, Switzerland; elwakil0@etu.unige.ch

Search for other papers by A. el-Wakil in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 126â132

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086867844_022

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

â¬42.00â¬35.00Â excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

In his Theory of justice, John Rawls argues that we as individuals can decide self-interestedly how we are to behave in the markets. In the economic system, justice doesnât require us to consider anything more than whether we can afford what we want or not. Distribution of wealth in society is just insofar as the basic structure of that society respects the two principles of justice and the rules of the market â a pure procedural justice system. However, our personal economic choices do modify the distribution of wealth in relevant ways; according to Gerald A. Cohen, Rawlsâ focus on institutions prevents him from achieving properly his project of a just society. His reliance on invisible hand mechanisms cannot guarantee the just character of the distribution; our individual choices, being an object of justice just as much as the institutions of the basic structure, should be guided by an ethos of justice. Having their âideal theoryâ considerations in mind, I follow Cohen by arguing that, contrary to what the Rawlsian model of pure proceduralism claims, our everyday choices in the current economic sphere should be informed by considerations of justice. I contend that the ideal notion of ethos can participate in the development of our capacity to carefully read prominent speeches, characteristic of the neoliberal age, that encourage uncritical, and self-interested consumption, if it is complemented by the practice of reflective judgment in the economic sphere. Should we achieve this, we will be better equipped to acknowledge and act upon the implications of our consumption on human and non-human life and development of the planet. The relevance of acknowledging this type of overlooked individual responsibility is exacerbated by the current context of increasing inequalities and decreasing amounts of resources, a situation of seemingly unrelenting crisis. By exercising a pressure upon how and which goods are to be produced and how wealth is to be distributed among people, our reflective consumption choices have the capacity, at the citizensâ level, to make things change towards a fairer world.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789086867844/BP000022.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

The ethics of consumption

The citizen, the market, and the law

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086867844

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 01 Nov 2013

Subjects
- Life Sciences

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	92	30	7
Full Text Views	5	1	0
PDF Views & Downloads	3	1	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Why pure procedural justice doesnât remove the individual responsibility to make right economic judgments

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

The ethics of consumption

The citizen, the market, and the law

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics

Why pure procedural justice doesnât remove the individual responsibility to make right economic judgments