Comparative Analysis: Rawls, Nozick, Management & Distribution

This essay delves into the philosophical perspectives on management and the distribution of goods, primarily focusing on the contrasting views of John Rawls and Robert Nozick. It begins by outlining Canada's trade regulations and the government's role in ensuring basic amenities for its citizens. The essay then discusses Rawls' theory of justice, emphasizing the importance of basic liberties and equality of opportunity. It contrasts this with Nozick's entitlement theory, which prioritizes individual rights to acquired holdings and criticizes wealth redistribution through taxation. The essay analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both philosophies, highlighting how differing principles impact the ethical economy of a nation. The essay concludes by proposing a balanced approach that combines the principle of private property with the principle of needs, advocating for both individual economic freedom and the provision of basic necessities for all citizens.

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As per the part of the section 91(2) of the constitution act in 1867 gives full power to the
Parliament of Canada to authorize and regulate the distribution of goods and trade in Canada
(Baradat & Phillips, 2016). They maintain a very liberal trade regime and there are no
restrictions on foreign exchange of goods. But the import of products is generally controlled by
Export and Imports permit Act. Products such as food items, medicines, firearms, endangered
species and motor vehicles are regulated with inspection by the government. All the imported
food materials in Canada has to pass through Food and Drugs Act and each item has to pass
through the quality standards and has to be properly labelled. Similarly in case of alcoholic
beverages it has a minimum age requirement and provincial regulations. They can only be
imported through the liquor commissioning of the particular provinces. For the goods that needs
to be regulated but uses potentially toxic chemicals, polymers and even biotechnology products
hasto be regulated by the Environment Protection Act of Canada (Selden, 2016). The basic
amenities such as education, health care are provided by the government to all the citizens
staying in Canada.
Many philosophers have given there views on this particular matter and this research will
discuss the views of some of the philosophers. The view of the first philosopher considered is of
John Rawls on the primary goods essential for every human being waswritten in a book called A
Theory of Justice in 1971 (Bunge, 2017). According to him the primary goods can be subdivided
in the following categories:
 The first one is the natural primary goods which includes imagination, health,
intelligence, speed etc.
 The second on is the social primary goods which includes the rights, both the civil rights
as well as political rights, income, liberties and wealth.
In his second edition of Theory of Justice he claimed the natural primary goods are the
basic requirements that the citizens of a society needs for their basic survival. In an essay that
was published in 1985 he described the term justice and explained justice comprises of two main
things that is liberty and equality (Stewart, 1996 pp.238). As per his first principle every
individual has got right to their basic liberties such as personal property, home and other personal
belongings. The government has no right to intervene or remove these basic rights from the

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people. The second or the equality principle elaborates the need of equality in a society to
flourish. According to him the offices and business should be open for all the individual
irrespective of their sex, Social background or ethnicity. He had always been raising his voice
and showing concern for all the people and they should have their basic amenities while staying
in the society. Christman (2017) stated providing equal opportunities to the people will give
more scope to the deprived class to work harder and establish themselves in the society. This in
fact with time will uplift the whole social stature and not just a particular group of people but the
whole society will be able to enjoy the amenities.
This part of the research will be discussing the ideas of Robert Nozick and will also
discuss how the ideas differ from that of Rawls. The Entitlement Theory proposed by Nozick has
got three main principles and they are discussed in the following points:
 The principle of justice in acquisition: this principle mainly deals with the
acquisitions and personal belongings. This principle accounts how an individual first
became an owner of a natural owned property or what types of things can be held and
some others.
 The principle of justice in transfer: this principle helpsto explain how a property can
be acquired from another with the help of exchange of money or goods.
 The principle of rectification of injustice: this principle deals with the holdings that
has been acquired by unfair means and then transferred (Hindriks & Douven, 2018).
It also discusses about howthe victims can be compensated and how to deal with the
injustice that is being committed by the government.
According to him if a person has acquired a holding by following the principle of justice
in acquisition then he or she is entitled to own the holdings. Similarly if any person has owned a
property by means of exchange of money or goods from someone then they are entitled to own
the property (pp.256). There are no other means of holding an acquisition. According to
Nozick’s idea the taxation of the rich people in order to support the social programs for the poor
cannot be justified as they are forced to pay instead of the voluntary actions.
Nozick’s entitlement theory is totally in contrast to the principle of justice by Rawls.
According to Rawls each individualhas got equal claim over the basic rights and liberties. He
also states that inequality should only persist as long as there is equality in the opportunity that

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can be benefitted from these inequalities. But according to Nozick the people who produce their
products or owns particulars amenities have got the right over them (Bunge, 2017). He also
believes that holding on to someone’s belongings by unethical practices violates the rights.
According to his principles the system which works on reducing the rightful earnings of some
people in order to distribute it among the others is outright immoral (pp.238). But the theories of
Nozick’s has been criticized over and over as many claims that by following his theories only a
handful of people in the society will be having the luxury and will own the majority of the
resources whereas the so called poor class will be continuously deprived from their basic
amenities and rights.
The ideas of both the philosophers’ gives an idea how important is the principle of
distribution for the economy of the nation. Real wealth of the nation is their goods and services
that they produce by following the laws and regulations of Canada (Stewart, 1996 pp.241). It is
important to understand that production is necessary and any problem related with production
needs to be solved with the help of technology, management and skilled workers. So in the long
run the distribution of these goods determine the ethical economy of the nation along with the
quality of life in the society. The distribution of the goods also controls the amount of products
that is available for the people in the society and also determines whether the particular product
will be available in abundance or not. The distribution of goods can also encourage the presence
or absence of the degrees of personal freedom, leisure, justice and also social cohesiveness.
Although there are a number of principles to control the distribution of goods in Canada but as
per my opinion there is only two basic principles. The first one is principle of private property
and the second one is principle of needs. According to the first principle the properties or goods
produced by the individuals should be kept with them and they should have their power to
control the regulations. So the labor working for the private enterprise should be liable to earn
the profits of their hard work and production. Similarly according to the second principle the
basic needs or amenities required for survival should belong to all the people irrespective of their
social status, economy, sex, religion or ethnic background. The basic privileges such as
education, medicine and healthcare, basic food etc has to be available for the whole nation and
not just a selective class of people. This will help in enhancing the moral of Canadians.
References

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Baradat, L. P., & Phillips, J. A. (2016). Political ideologies: Their origins and impact.
Routledge.
Bunge, M. (2017). Political philosophy: Fact, fiction, and vision. Routledge.
Christman, J. (2017). Social and political philosophy: A contemporary introduction. Routledge.
Fay, B. (2014). Social theory and political practice (RLE social theory). Routledge.
Hindriks, F., & Douven, I. (2018). Nozick’s experience machine: An empirical
study. Philosophical Psychology, 31(2), 278-298.
Selden, R. (2016). Practising theory and reading literature: an introduction. Routledge.
Stewart, R. M. (Ed.). (1996). Readings in social and political philosophy. Oxford University
Press. (p.235-246)