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The Role of the State. Why should I care?. Most debates involve the state taking some new action In many of these debates, people may claim any of the following: The state is morally obliged to take this action This action is morally illegitimate
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Why should I care? • Most debates involve the state taking some new action • In many of these debates, people may claim any of the following: • The state is morally obliged to take this action • This action is morally illegitimate • Someone should take this action, but not the state • Or even all three of them • These claims obviously clash • You can win or lose debates by winning this argument – even if a policy has some benefits, you can win by showing that it is an unjust action
Moral Duties • These are things that we morally have to do • Most people would agree you have a moral duty to not go around murdering children • Donating all your money to charity would be a good thing to do but it is not necessarily something you have to do • Moral duties might come from philosophical arguments like • Utilitarianism • The ‘Veil of Ignorance’ argument • Intrinsic human rights • Etc.
The State’s moral duties • Does the state have different moral duties that individuals do not have? • Perhaps • It is more powerful than individuals (with great power, comes great responsibility) • We give up some rights to the state, in exchange it takes care of certain moral duties & looks after us • It is a way of avoiding the ‘collective action problem • Perhaps not – • The state is just a group of individuals, so how can it have duties that they don’t? • Do states have moral duties outside of their own borders?
What kind of things are we talking about? • Public vs. Private sector • Does the government have a special duty to provide free healthcare? • Does the government have the right to control access to certain services? • Crime & Punishment • Do individuals have the right to cause harm to themselves? • When does the government have the right to punish people? • Human Rights • Can the government restrict the rights of some people to make other people better off, or safer?
Who is best at doing it? • What kind of stuff is the state good at doing? • Police? • Justice? • What kind of stuff is it bad at doing? • Does the state have a special duty to do something just because it can do it the most efficiently? • Nationalise banks? Or transport? • Should the state force people to use/pay for its services? • BBC? State schools? • Wars you don’t agree with?
