PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Political Philosophy and Justice

Question 1

John Rawls's theory of justice as fairness yields two principles of justice, the first of which guarantees:

Accepted Answer

Equal basic liberties for all citizens

Answer

Rawls's first principle requires that each person have a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties compatible with the same scheme for all.

Question 2

Robert Nozick's libertarian theory in Anarchy, State, and Utopia argues that a just state is limited to:

Accepted Answer

Protecting individual rights against force and fraud (a minimal state)

Answer

Nozick holds that only a minimal 'nightwatchman' state—protecting rights to security and contract—is justified; any more extensive state violates individual rights.

Question 3

The social contract tradition in political philosophy attempts to justify political authority through:

Accepted Answer

A hypothetical or actual agreement among individuals

Answer

Social contract theorists (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Rawls) ground legitimate political authority in consent or hypothetical rational agreement.

Question 4

Thomas Hobbes described life in the state of nature—without government—as:

Accepted Answer

'Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'

Answer

Hobbes argued that without a sovereign power, rational self-interest leads to a war of all against all, making life miserable.

Question 5

John Locke's political philosophy holds that individuals possess natural rights to:

Accepted Answer

Life, liberty, and property

Answer

Locke argued in the Second Treatise that life, liberty, and property are pre-political natural rights that governments must protect and cannot legitimately violate.

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Political Philosophy and Justice