October 14th 2008 Notes.docx

October 14th, 2008 Nature of Politics ? Recitation Notes Exam ? Review ? 10/16 @ 8:30 Exam ? 10/23 @ 5:50 Good idea to not bring a backpack with anything of value (will be placed in back of room) Aristotle ? -Nichamachean: One of three major works Aristotle wrote on ethics -Discusses justice as a mean (average) -Not too much or too little for you as an individual -Doesn?t want you to be excessive or completely give up -Aristotle is a student of Plato; often talks to his work -Thinks teleologically -We are all working for some specific end ? this end is happiness -Through just actions, we will end up happy -Happy = living a good virtuous life -Problem with Aristotle is that justice and injustice are somewhat ambiguous -Page 203 ? Tautology -Something that is definitionally set -Aristotle gives justice a definition -Justice consists of acts that tend to promote or encourage happiness -Justice is closely tied to his discussion of ethics -Justice is a complete virtue -There is something fundamentally reciprocal about justice -A quality within yourself is a virtue, but when it has to do with someone else, that quality is the same, but also justice, which therefore makes it a complete virtue -Some things lack virtue and are unjust -Example he gives is adultery -If you commit adultery out of passion this is weakness -If you commit adultery for gain then this is injustice -Natural Vs. Legal Justice -Natural Justice ? Things that are universally held as just or unjust -Fire burns everywhere ? this translation can be made to justice -Equivalent to Devlin?s mala in se ? an action bad in itself -Legal Justice ? Equivalent to Devlin?s moral law -Laws created by the society ? Justice based on these laws -Paying price or a P.O.W. is an example of legal justice -Justice and Politics -Justice is considered a political good -How is this split equally among the people? -Plato argues that we do things that we think are good for us, but we sometimes are bad at determining what is good for us Patrick Devlin -Morals of the Criminal Law -Mala in Se ? Wrong in itself -Murder -Mala Prohibitum ? What society deems to be wrong -Polygamy -Devlin discusses homosexuality -Devlin thinks homosexuality is disgusting and intolerable and therefore society has the right to prohibit and use coercive power of the state to reject such acts that society feels are disgusting -Disgusting is a threat to society ? society has a right to protect itself -Devlin argues that animal abuse is Mala Prohibitum -