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... permitted the maximum amount of equal basic liberty compatible with similar liberty for others. Rawl calls this the "liberty principle. " (Rawl, p. 54) Second, inequalities in social primary goods such as rights, income and opportunities, are allowed only if they benefit everyone, especially the least advantaged, and only if they are open to all, or everyone has fair equality of opportunity. Rawl calls this the "difference principle. " (Rawl, p. 58) The liberty principle takes priority over the difference principle, and therefore, no one can justify an inequality that may benefit society, but take away a basic liberty of another. Obviously, this is a direct challenge to utilitarianism. Rule of maximin is that people are supposed to guarantee that each member of a society is to be treated with an equal amount of respect. (Rawl, p. 34) Utilitarianism can be compared to Rawls on "the separateness of persons. " Utilitarianism generally benefits everyone.
It benefits everyone because it looks toward the group that will be benefited the most. It goes toward the group that has more total happiness. Rawls theory on the other hand does not benefit every thing. It is mainly an improvement to utilitarianism, which will be helpful when we elaborate on the case study that allows us to deploy utilitarian principles. The Rawlsian concept has wider implications than income alone.
Sen objects to the Rawlsian approach by attempting to go beyond the concept of "goods. " He developed the idea of "functioning between "goods" and "utility, " and concentrated on "capability" which is a selective set of "functioning. " (Sen, p. 117 - 119) These positions of Rawls and Sen certainly present a redistributive norm beyond income redistribution and justify affirmative action. In justifying redistribution based on needs, however, they do not question by whom and how the needs are to be identified. They do not account for the potential of "reverse affirmative action, ' and overlook the dynamics of why in some cases affirmative action is institutionalized, and in others it is not. Sen alternatively states that two central issues for ethical analysis of equality are: (1) Why equality? (2) Equality of what? (Sen, p. 129) The two questions are distinct but interdependent. We cannot begin to defend or to criticize equality without knowing what on earth we are talking about, and we cannot possibly answer the first question without addressing the second. (Sen, p. 140) Now we will elaborate on the case study that will help us to use utilitarian ideas in practice. Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time.
The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups, creating a situation of political unrest.
This resulted in a military coup data throwing out the Prime Minister and replacing him with a major Igbo General. The minorities wanted a political restructuring through states and they won. There was Igbo secession from Nigeria forming Biafra in Eastern Nigeria including the Ogoni territory. A three-year civil war broke out after this over the natural resources held by the minorities especially the oil in the Ogoni territory. After this Nigeria went through several forms of Military governments and a public election in 1993 was considered null and void by Gen.
Babangida, he was taken over by Gen. Abacha in 1993 who was to be by far the most horrid dictator of Nigeria yet. (Weibner, p. 111 - 113) The plight of the Ogoni people has been heard around the world; they number around 500, 000 and live in an area very rich in crude oil. Shell and other companies have drilling operations in the Ogoni territory but Shell is by far the major extractor of oil in the region. Do to the drilling and spillage of massive amounts of oil the ecosystem of the Ogoni people has been devastated.
It resembles a wasteland with little to no vegetation and wildlife being very scarce. Furthermore the Ogoni people have received almost nothing for the all the oil exported from their land. The human values which are at stake are similar to the ethical issues which the case raises. In this case there is a minority which is being oppressed by the majority the ways they oppress are brutal and take away inalienable God given rights.
The ways the Nigerian government acted led by Gen. Abacha were atrocious. The average Ogoni is unable to flourish in his / her environment. Education and medical are not available to most of the population. Of the 5, 000 Shell employees in the region only 88 are Ogoni. (Weibner, p. 144) For farmers their soil is infertile and their plant life is tainted. These people have no opportunity to flourish in their environment that has been brought down upon them by their own government and giant western oil companies.
For humanity to flourish it must respect each other and help those in need. The Ogoni's ecosystem was fine before the oil companies came in. After the human rights violations happened Ken So-With stood up and he and his followers were hung for it. The entire world knew an innocent man stood out against a tyrannical government and was killed for crimes he did not commit, and they stood by and did very little. Still today they do very little and all these things continue though not as out in the open as they used to. Utilitarianism is the ethical context system for this case.
Ecological harm hurts a large number of people in mostly small ways one could ignore however, the amount of time that this harm exists is very great and odds are it will be polluted in the future faster than it takes for the Earth to heal itself. Where the Ogoni's oil was taken by Shell and parts of the profits allocated to the Nigerian government there is a major misallocation of who received the money generated by the oil. The oil generates 10 billion dollars a year to the Nigerian government from producing the vast amounts of oil; this was embezzled by high ranking military officials. Supposedly 3 % of profits from the oil of the Ogoni were supposed to be reinvested in their community the real percentage at best according to Greenpeace was. 000007. (Weibner, p. 161) So for the greatest good for the greatest number we see many people losing their resources, farmland, and ecology while a few Military officials become insanely rich off the poverty of many.
The ethical shortcomings in the case are many but there are couple ethical strengths in the case. Such as some of the things Shell oil company did to repair the damage done to the Ogoni region. The Ogoni region was rich in oil and that is where Shell drilled, they paid their fair share of revenue to the Nigerian government for the oil, it is not their fault the Ogoni received nothing for the devastation of their land. When Shell officials called in the police there were thousands of protesters outside their plant, peaceful or not it is intimidating and no one wants to lose a multi-million dollar plant. Shell has donated over 100 million dollars specifically to the Ogoni region to help its environment and people.
Shell does hold part of the blame but they do more than their fair share to correct the problems while the Nigerian government still does nothing but oppress the people and keep down revolutionaries with an iron fist. As for the many shortcomings in the case the killing of peaceful protesters, hanging innocent men after a mock trial in which press and public were forbidden, the devastation of a culture through murder, pillaging, and destruction of their land have already been discussed. One conflict would be the necessity of oil in the modern world and effects of taking it from the land in third world areas where compensation is not given to the area and people from where it was removed. Before the entire Nigerian incident, Shell was ranked number one in the oil industry (it moved to three afterwards) and it took a large portion of its oil from Nigeria.
As oil is necessary and Nigeria has oil deposits it will be drilled. Every year massive amounts of oil is spilled the effects of having crude oil spilled is very harsh on the land. Between 1982 and 1992 an estimated 1. 6 million gallons of oil was spilled from Shells Nigerian fields. This is just something that happens in areas where oil is being extracted and transported. Though what is happening to the Ogoni is wrong it is inevitable in a way, due to the need of oil, the natural resources the Ogoni region has and the impoverished corrupt country in which the situation takes place. It is evident from this case study that although great profits are obtained on the territory that belong to the people discussed above, actually they receive only a small portion of those profits.
Thus, various economic measurements, such as production volumes, would show that the country is in a great stage of its development. However, the profits obtained are actually not benefiting the countrys population. That is why utilitarians suggest concentrating on GDP per capita as the objective of development. Words Count: 3, 081. Bibliography Mills, J. S.
Utilitarianism. New York: Harper Collins, 1987. Rawl, J. Justice as fairness. Michigan: Zondervan Publishers, 1999.
Richardson, H, The two principles and their justification. New York: Pluto Press, 2000. Sen, A. Utilitarianism and beyond. London: Scientific Press, 2001.
Sen, A. Collective Choice and social welfare. London: Scientific Press, 2000. Weibner, A.
Nigerian Oil Crisis. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999.
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