University of Kansas, Spring 2004
Philosophy 555: Justice and Economic Systems
Ben Eggleston—eggleston@ku.edu

Rawls paper: peer editing

Here are some things to think about as you read your classmate’s paper and provide feedback on it.

  1. Circle whichever one of the following is the most accurate description of the purpose of the paper.
    1. to undermine the claim that the original position is the interpretation of the initial situation that makes that situation morally significant in the sense that whatever conception of justice would be chosen there is what we, in real life, ought to regard as the best conception of justice
    2. to undermine the claim that Rawls’s conception of justice would be chosen in the original position
    3. to undermine the claim that Rawls’s conception of justice has implications for specific problems that fit our intuitions about these problems better than do the implications of any other conception of justice
    4. to undermine the claim that the conception of justice whose implications best fit our intuitions is the best one
    5. to rebut (some or all of) the first of Hare’s four criticisms
    6. to rebut (some or all of) the second of Hare’s four criticisms
    7. to rebut (some or all of) the third of Hare’s four criticisms
    8. to rebut (some or all of) the fourth of Hare’s four criticisms
  2. Is there any part of the paper that does not serve the purpose you just circled? If so, you should counsel the author to eliminate it or to modify it so that it is relevant.
  3. If the purpose of the paper is 1–4 above, is the author’s argument obviously derivative of Hare’s? If so, you should counsel the author to make his or her argument less derivative of Hare’s.
  4. Is the author’s argument open to any objections you can think of? If so, you should counsel the author to mention these possible objections and to respond to them, or to restate his or her argument so that it is not open to these objections.
  5. Is the grammar and meaning of every sentence clear? You might be able to save the author from turning in something that is inadvertently less clear than he or she would like.
  6. Is the point and structure of every paragraph clear? Again, you might be able to save the author from turning in something that is inadvertently less organized than he or she would like.

Obviously you should feel free to mention any other concerns to the author. Anything that looks fishy to you is probably something that will cause the paper to get a lower grade.