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Jesse N. Maese

Rhetoric and Writing Studies 1301

Professor Irma Nikicicz

October 23, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Thesis Statement: Judgements made by the Justice system are said to be impartial and

fair; are they definitive about what is ethically fair and equal to everyone?

Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. J. (2015, August 18). What is

Ethics? Retrieved from Santa Clara University-Markkula Center of Applied

Science: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-

making/what-is-ethics/

The authors of the article briefly describe a broad view of ethics without giving

the audience specifics on an indicated position they took. They made quick

references to others views of ethics and misconstrued thought others have. What

made the article impressive was a misconception that states, Being ethical is

doing what the law requiresBut laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is

ethical. The quote is an odd statement but ultimately understandable for the

reader.

Bufacchi, D. V., & Bufacchi, V. (2011). Social Injustice: Essays in Political Philosophy.

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

This book does a great job in allowing the reader to learn about social injustices.

Instead of referencing the entire book, the focus mainly surround chapter 8:
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Justice, Equality, Liberty. The author talks about equality broadly that all humans

have the same equal worth. Then makes another valid point that everyone may

be morally equal but not socially or biologically. The author makes the statement

clear by stating everyone is raised to understand a generic sense of right and

wrong in today's society. Morally, we see equality as treating others of different

ethnicity, race, or nationalities the same. However upper-class citizens have

more advantages then lower-class citizens.

United States Department of Justice. (n.d.). Ethnics and Integrity. Retrieved from

Community Oriented Policing Service:

https://cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?Item=2469

The paragraph in the website is short and to the point about the kind of integrity

that law enforcement needs to have once in the field. The ethics displayed on the

website tell us that officers need to have a specific standard when working.

Although we see that some officers disregard the three fundamental concepts:

procedural justice, bias reduction, and racial reconciliation. The site goes further

as saying that the ideas deeply embedded in the culture of the policing.

Rawls, J. (1991). Justice as Fairness: Political Not Metaphysical. Equality and Liberty,

(pp. 223-251.)

In the article, written by John Rawls, the author clarifies misunderstandings made

in his book A Theory of Justice. In it, he expands on the thought of justice being a

political conception rather than a moral conception. In the beginning, he sets

guidelines for his reader to keep the audience from making further assumptions
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about his claim and criticizing his text. It is an interesting phrasing that the author

uses to make the reader familiar with his analogies. He continuously states

Justice as Fairness. Although, recently believed to be two separate terms. It is

astonishing to learn that the article examines justice as having different forms

such as fairness.

Justice (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2017, June 26). Retrieved from

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice/#Bib

When beginning to read the article, it shows a detailed description of what to

expect while going through the material. The section starts by giving a roadmap

through the different concepts. It is helpful by not confusing the audience as they

are reading. The idea is four types of justices that exist that are in relation to

forms of government, Institutions, and Ideals.

Hardin, G. (1974). Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor. Retrieved from

www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_

poor.html

The Thought Experiment Lifeboat is used to note others morals standards are

rooted. The use of this is to acknowledge our frame of mind when deciding what

is fair or just. Hardin makes it challenging to do what is right by continually

placing rules that will otherwise go against others morality. Ultimately, the

regulations formed by Hardin are fair, if such situation comes to be real. Even

though the publishing of the thought experiment was in 1974, it held significance

to ones ethical belief today as it did back in 1974.

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Blatner, A. (2001). Ethical Issues in Contemporary Culture. Retrieved from

https://www.blatner.com/adam/psyntbk/ethicissues.htm

In the article, Adam Blatner brings together many issues that still havent been

answered or acknowledged. The history lesson, in the beginning, was

unnecessary to the reader because most of the information is essential

knowledge. We then confronted with a base issue about abortion. It may seem

just another problem, but Adam expands on the thoughts and adds to it making it

more difficult. It was surprising to see how a problem we believe is small can turn

into a big ethical issue.