Chance

In light of today's discussions in class, it seems that many people, including myself, are hesitant to concede our judicial system as being completely unfair, or completely in the hands of chance. In order to shed more light on that position, I was thinking about experiences that both myself and others have had with the law, and more particularly, the judicial system. It just so happens that I know two people who are equal in many respects; both graduated from Rhodes last year, both are going to medical school, both white, both highly intelligent, both fairly wealthy, and both were caught drinking and driving. The interactions with the law were fairly similar, until it was time to get out of jail the morning after. At this point, chance has it that one, we will call him Bob, got a hold of his parents and let them know what was happening, and they proceeded to tell him that he was on his own and to figure it out. The other, Shelly, called her parents and explained the situation and was bailed out with a fine lawyer at her side in a couple of hours. While Bob was waiting in the cell without another call, his friends were banding together to try to come up with the bail money, but they failed, so he posted using a bail bondsman, and then found the cheapest lawyer he could. This is the point at which their entrances into the judicial systems split, Shelly's lawyer knew the judges, the prosecutors, and knew the law, Bob's lawyer was an idiot and a cheat and lied to Bob and stole his money. Shelly got a small fine, lost her license for a week, and had everything expunged from her record. Bob is still without license, has a permanent mark on his record (which hurts his chance at Med school) and has paid more than Shelly has in total. To boot, they both blew a comparable BAC's, and generally posed the same threat on the road. It merely happened, by chance, that Bob's parents were disposed to reject their son's distressed state while Shelly's parents did the opposite. Perhaps his parents had just been in a fight, or had a bad day at work, yet all it took was that rejection to cast an entirely different fate for persons in the same circumstances. Likewise, it is not hard to imagine that the oppressed minority of America who cannot afford the lawyer up front (or do not know the importance of doing so) end up in the same situation as Bob. It is obviously unfair, and possibly due to chance, so where does the system actually lie? Can we say that is was not mere chance that Bob got the harsher penalty for the same offense, or that on average black people are incarcerated at a higher rate than white people for the same charges (so for every 10 white people charge with something, 5 get off, whereas only 2 black people get off-not actual statistics, just for example). How far does chance go, can we really proclaim an ability to control chance, and would that be any different than the Babylonian lottery?

Welcome to class!

Welcome to the blog-home for Dr. Johnson's Philosophy 150: Social and Political Philosophy class at Rhodes College. The theme for this course is "Justice," and we will spend the semester tracing the history of the idea of justice, ending with a closer look at human rights violations, truth commissions and international criminal tribunals. In an effort to maintain an uninterrupted conversation about our subject matter, as well as to save a few trees, all of the students in this course will complete their writing assignments via this blog.

Blog-writing differs in significant ways than the "normal" writing you might be assigned to do in a regular course. For one thing, your writing here will be public, which means that your fellow classmates will be able to read your remarks and comment on the merits and demerits of your ideas. Additionally, the abbreviated format of blog-writing will require you to distill your thoughts into concise and pointed prose. Learning how to condense complex concepts into a limited number of crystal-clear sentences is a difficult, but eminently valuable, skill that we will all aim to develop in this course. Finally, it is important to remember that blogs are in many ways simply a written form of conversation. As such, all of the rules of regular conversation apply to the written conversations that will take place here, including most importantly the necessity for mutual respect and consideration among interlocutors. (I refer you to A Blogger's Code of Ethics and Weblog Ethics, both of which offer valuable insights on how to monitor your participation in blog conversations.)

I encourage all of the students in this course to actively participate in this blog above and beyond their "required" participation. Take advantage of the opportunity to comment on your classmates' ideas or to reflect on themes and discussions that happen in class. Together, we will take philosophy into the 21st century!