Political Science 1020E Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Susan Moller Okin, Simone De Beauvoir, Michael Oakeshott
31 Mar 2016
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The individual is prior to the society. Locke"s view that humans are naturally equal, free, and independent. Challenge: society is prior to the individual. put forth by communitarians, who say humans are naturally social, born in to the customs and traditions of their own society. Much of what is significant about an individual is a consequence of their upbringing and social context. The task of political philosophy is to devise principles of justice. These principles will be assigning rights, duties, and responsibilities. This does not mean the individualist must believe in natural rights, but that they believe political philosophy is the formulation of ideal legislation. They also believe that the freedom and equality of individuals is of paramount importance. The ultimate point of political philosophy is, then, not only to assign rights, but to make sure the point of those rights is to protect freedom and equality. They believe in the priority/primacy of justice.
