I began the course with an understanding of a famous Thomas Davidson quote, “
A man’s intents may be, or how ready he may be for self-sacrifice, all his efforts may be unavailing and worse if he does not understand the spirit and needs of the time in which he lives, if he blindly tries to realize a past ideal,” which provided a stimulating stage for taking on the direction the course would take. The entire course hinges on the concepts of justice perceived in our modern society by providing basic principles that should guide society in realizing the utmost benefit of justice. The project uses the works of John Rawls: A Theory of Justice and Robert Nozick: Anarchy State and Utopia to illustrate the ideal concepts in comprehending justice as a vital requisite in society. John Rawls back up his theory of justice by using the principles of Liberty and Distributive Justice to satisfy his conceptions of the subject. On the other hand, Robert Nozick approaches the subject by providing the Patterned and unpatterned theories while also providing counter-arguments against Rawls illustrations. The course then outlines the controversies between the two philosophers’ ideas while also using real-life examples to emphasize the discussion.