| Authority |
For Woolf, the claim by a State to have power over individuals. |
| Autonomy |
For Woolf, the absolute moral freedom of the autonomous individual. |
| Christian Anarchism |
A form of pacifist Christianity which claims Christians have no duty to obey the State if it commands them to act violently. |
| Coercion |
The practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. |
| Difference Principle |
For Rawls, part of his second principle for a just society recognizing that different members of a society will carry differing skills and limitations. |
| Divine Right of Kings |
An ancient theory that God appoints monarchs and thus renders their actions unquestionable. |
| Justice |
The establishment of fairness in a society. |
| Law of Nature |
For Hobbes, a rational moral rule prohibiting self-destruction. |
| Legal Rights |
A society’s customs, laws, statutes, or actions by legislatures. |
| Liberty |
For Hobbes, the absence of external impediments, especially from governments. |
| Moral Luck |
For Sandel, the fact that random chance has benefitted some and harmed others without praise or blame owing to them. |
| Natural Rights |
Rights which are “natural” in the sense of “not artificial, not man-made”, as in rights deriving from human nature or from the edicts of a god. |
| Negative Rights |
A claim of an entitlement to not be interfered with by others. |
| Non-resistance |
For Tolstoy, the obligation of a Christian not to return evil for evil but to turn the other cheek. |
| Obligations |
The correlative of rights claims, that they imply others have certain duties vis a vis the claimant. |
| Original Position |
For Rawls, the hypothetical state of humanity prior to any government. |
| Positive Rights |
A claim of an entitlement to a specific service or treatment from others. |
| Principle of Equal Liberties |
For Rawls, the first principle we should seek to establish in a just society, giving equal freedoms to all. |
| Principle of Equal Opportunity |
For Rawls, part of his second principle for a just society granting all a chance to improve themselves. |
| Right of Nature |
For Hobbes, the right of human beings in a state of nature to preserve their own lives. |
| Rights |
Legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. |
| State of nature |
For Hobbes, the hypothetical state of humanity without any government. |
| Theoretical anarchism |
The position that a State has no moral legitimacy and that individuals have no moral duty to obey the State. |
| Veil of Ignorance |
For Rawls, our not knowing what our status will be when we leave the original position and enter society. |
