Quotes

Robert Nozick
“Only a minimal state, limited to enforcing contracts and protecting people against force, theft and fraud, is justified. Any more extensive state violates persons’ rights not to be forced to do certain things, and is unjustified.”

John Locke
“…every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself. The labor of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his.”

“The supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without his own consent.”

Immanuel Kant
“When we think of ourselves as free, we transfer ourselves into the intelligible world as members and recognize the autonomy of the will.”

On hypothetical and categorical imperatives
“If the action would be good solely as a means to something else, the imperative is hypothetical; if the action is represented as good in itself and therefore as necessary… for a will which of itself accords with reason, then the imperative is categorical.”

On the formula of Universal Law
“Act only on that maxim 格言 whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”.

Treat persons as ends
“I say that man, and in general every rational being, exists as an end in himself, not merely as a means for arbitrary use by this or that will.”

“Act in such a way you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.”

On emperical and intelligent world
“When we think of ourselves as free, we transfer ourselves into the intelligible world as members and recognize the autonomy of the will.”

On Morality
“A good will isn’t good because of what it effects or accomplishes, it’s good in itself. Even if by utmost effort the good will accomplishes nothing it would still shine like a jewel for its own sake as something which has its full value in itself.”

John Rawls
Against Utilitarianism
“Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override… The rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.”

On hypothetical Social Contract behind the "Veil of Ignorance"
“Among the essential features of this situation is that no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status, nor does anyone know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence, strength and the like. I shall even assume that the parties do not know their conception of the good or their special psychological propensities. The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance”

On Difference Principle
“The difference principle represents, in effect, an agreement to regard the distribution of natural talents as a common asset and  to share in the benefits of this distribution whatever it turns out to be. Those who have been favoured by nature, whoever they are, may gain from their good fortune only on terms that improve the situation of those who have lost out. The naturally advantaged are not to gain merely because they are more gifted, but only to cover the costs of training and education and for using their endowments in ways that help the less fortunate as well. No one deserves his greater natural capacity nor merits a more favourable starting place in society. But it does not follow that one should eliminate these distinctions. There is another way to deal with them. The basic structure of society can be arranged so that these contingencies work for the good of the least fortunate.”

On Social Injustice
“We should reject the contention that the ordering of institution is always defective because the distribution of natural talents and the contingencies of social circumstance are unjust, and this injustice must inevitably carry over to human arrangements. Occasionally this reflection is offered as an excuse for ignoring injustice, as if the refusal to acquiesce in injustice is on a par with being unable to accept death. The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.”

“The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.” 

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