Psychology: Cognitive Biases and Ideal Societies

Biases and Ideal Theories

• Humans have a dramatic instinct and overdramatic worldview, leading to systematically negative answers
• Our knowledge is often outdated, and even those with the latest data can make the same mistakes
• We suffer from a systematic bias

Ideal Theories of a "Good" Society

• Hobbesian minimalism: minimal physical harm
• Theocratic maximalism: maximal production of the "right" kind of human being
• Four important ideal theories: Comprehensive Liberalism, Communitarianism, Utilitarianism, and Distributive Justice

Comprehensive Liberalism

• Focuses on human freedom
• Separates a public and private sphere, promoting tolerance
• The chief virtue of a liberal citizen is tolerance
• Government is constrained from intruding on the private sphere
• Policy is used to promote liberal virtues of tolerance and civic pride

Communitarianism

• Focuses on perfectionism: living according to one's own making is the essence of being human
• Kantian autonomy: individuals should live according to their own making
• Mill's fallibilism: individuals should be able to revise their beliefs as all human knowledge is potentially wrong
• Natural rights: Locke's Natural Law and Nozick's self-ownership

Utilitarianism

• Focuses on human wellbeing
• Rightness of a policy or social organization depends on its consequences for net aggregate human wellbeing
• Consequentialism: rightness of a policy depends on the goodness of the state of affairs it brings about
• Welfarism: evaluation of states of affairs is based on their implications for human wellbeing
• Treats individual welfares equally
• Veil of Ignorance: Harsanyi and Rawl
• Utilitarian improvement/optimum: rigorously measures costs and benefits to maximize aggregate wellbeing

Distributive Justice

• Focuses on equality
• A just society is one that conforms to two moral principles: life outcomes should not be determined by luck, and people are responsible for things within their control
• The Difference Principle: unequal access to social primary goods is mere luck, and inequality should be arranged to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged
• Dworkin (2000) argues that inequality of natural primary goods is also luck
• What is the line between luck and preference (life choice)?
• Structural injustice: equality to what?