Tournament: VBT | Round: 4 | Opponent: Bingham TP | Judge: Chris Bentley
I affirm
In response to out of control poaching and plummeting Elephant populations, the international trade of Ivory was banned in 1989 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. Although the ban was initially successful at stabilizing elephant populations, recently poaching is on the rise.
Large sell-offs of Ivory stockpiles by African Elephant Range Countries have stimulated demand and provided an incentive for poachers. 

Kahumbu 2012 Paula Kahumbu - Executive Director of Wildlife Direct. “Why it's time to ban the ivory trade for good” Environmental News. 12/12/2012 http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1212-kahumbu-op-ed-poaching.html#jf7Yt1yP5YPczdHI.99

To make matters worse, Kenya is not just a haven for poachers, it
AND
or has already started to threaten conservation efforts and relations with local communities. 

AND, loopholes have undermined the ‘89 ban. The sale of pre-ban ivory is still legal, making it impossible to delineate legal and illicit ivory, and domestic markets are unregulated by CITES. So, when one-off sales flood the markets, laundering becomes easy.
Montazeri 2013  Sharon Montazeri  - Senior Notes Editor, Cardozo Journal Of International and Comparative Law. Candidate for Juris Doctor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, May 2014; B.A. (cum laude), New York University, May 2011. “PROTECTING THE PACHYDERM: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IVORY TRADE REGULATION FOR AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION” CARDOZO J. OF INT’L and COMP. LAW Vol. 22 2013
In 1975, CITES placed the Asian elephant in Appendix I.104 A few
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border control security has resulted in a perfect storm of noncompliance with CITES.

Thus, I advocate that all African Elephant Range Countries institute a ban on the domestic harvesting, sale, export of all Ivory and Ivory products, and adopt non-extractive use policies toward local elephant populations.  
Sub-point A: Solvency 

An absolute ban would make it much more difficult for illicit traders to launder ivory. Any legal means of trading facilitates poaching. 

Montazeri 2 Senior Notes Editor, Cardozo Journal Of International and Comparative Law. Candidate for Juris Doctor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, May 2014; B.A. (cum laude), New York University, May 2011. “PROTECTING THE PACHYDERM: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IVORY TRADE REGULATION FOR AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION” CARDOZO J. OF INT’L and COMP. LAW Vol. 22 2013

Any curbing on the legal sale of ivory also reduces illegal ivory
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elephant populations, as will be discussed infra in Part V. B.¶ 

A ban on ivory sales would drive up prices, reducing demand, and driving suppliers out of the market.

Montazeri 3 Senior Notes Editor, Cardozo Journal Of International and Comparative Law. Candidate for Juris Doctor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, May 2014; B.A. (cum laude), New York University, May 2011. “PROTECTING THE PACHYDERM: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IVORY TRADE REGULATION FOR AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION” CARDOZO J. OF INT’L and COMP. LAW Vol. 22 2013

On the other hand, one-off sales and other means of legally trading
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and public policy efforts to ensure compliance with such a sizeable trade restriction.

Sub-Point B: Biodiversity Adv

Although initially stabilized by the CITES ban, elephant populations are plummeting and on the brink. If nothing is done the African Elephant could be extinct by 2020. 

Matt Forde 2011 Matt Forde - Why the African Elephant Could Be Extinct by 2020, Environmental
Graffiti (2011), http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-african-elephants-be- extinct-2020.

But a dark stain is fast returning to this beautiful landscape. Despite the worldwide
AND
elephants in Africa could become extinct by as soon as 2020.

AND, Elephants are a keystone species. Loss of African Elephants could lead to the extinction of up to 50 of species in the ecosystem. 

Western 1989 David Western, Chairman of the African Conservation Centre, Professor of Biology at UCSD and UofM , Pachyderm: A Publication of the African Elephant and Rhino Specialist Group, number 12, 1989

Elephants play a previously overlooked keystone role in African savannas, and almost certainly tropical
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our keystone species and we will lose a great deal more in the proces

AND, A loss of biodiversity will cause human extinction.

Diner 1994 Major David Diner, JAG Corps, United States Army, Winter 1994, Military Law Review, 143 Mil. L. Rev. 161, p. 170-173

Why Do We Care? -- No species has ever dominated its fellow species as
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aircraft’s wings, mankind humankind may be edging closer to the abyss

Sub-point C: Terrorism Adv

Al-Qaeda is seeking a nuclear device to use against the U.S. If they get a weapon they will use it. This is not an empty threat it is a top priority. 

Harvard’s Belfer Center 2010 Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs “Al Qaeda Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality? A Timeline of Terrorists' Efforts to Acquire WMD” Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. January 2010. http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19852/al_qaeda_weapons_of_mass_destruction_threat.html

Osama bin Ladin's assertion in 1998 that it was his Islamic duty to acquire weapons
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course of devising a "dirty bomb," or a radiological dispersal device.

East Africa is hot-spot for the potential smuggling of nuclear materials to terrorist groups. Al-Shabaab poses the greatest threat in the region and is intimately connected to Al-Qaeda and provides an opportunity to obtain a nuclear device. 

Huber 2010 Rita Grossman-Vermaas, Konrad Huber, Alexandra Kapitanskaya -- “Minimizing Threat Convergence Risks  in East Africa and the Horn of Africa:  Prospects for Achieving Security and Stability” Center for the Study of Threat Convergence. May 2010.

Nonetheless, there have been reports of smuggling of nuclear source material which are a
AND
mitigating a threat convergence scenario in, or ¶ from, the region.
And, nuclear terror causes extinction.

Ayson 2010 Robert – Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand at the Victoria University of Wellington – “After a Terrorist Nuclear Attack: Envisaging Catalytic Effects,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 33, Issue 7, July AT

A terrorist nuclear attack, and even the use of nuclear weapons in response by
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, is further international cooperation on the control of existing fissile material holdings.
Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda rely on ivory for funding. Al-Shabaab receives 40 of its funding from illicit ivory. 

Goldsmith on December 18th, Zac Goldsmith, journalist and member of UK Parliament, “At This Rate, Elephants Will be Extinct Within 10 Years,” The Independent Dec 18, 2013 MOCH

Beyond the sheer pettiness of the trinkets, there is a more sinister motivation too
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Lord's Resistance Army, and Sudan's murderous Janjaweed organisation, and many others.

AND, ending the Ivory trade is THE key to stopping al-shabaab and other terror groups. The revenue from Ivory gives Shabaab a decisive recruiting advantage. 

LA Times October 14th Laurel Neme, Andrea Crosta and Nir Kalron – Laurel Neme is the author of "Animal Investigators: How the World's First Wildlife Forensics Lab Is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species." Andrea Crosta is founder of the Los Angeles-based Elephant Action League. Nir Kalron is founder and CEO of Maisha Consulting. “Terrorism and the ivory trade” LA Times. October 14, 2013. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-neme-ivory-poaching-terrorism-20131014,0,1915512.story#axzz2nvbkTWCc

If the world needs another reason to get serious about combating elephant poaching, here's
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ultimately to slaughtered human beings, like those in the Nairobi shopping mall.

Sub-point D: Impact calculus. 

The resolution is not a comparison of action to inaction, prioritizing environmental protection or resource extraction would both prescribe particular actions that would involve trade-offs between the interests of different parties. This is generally true of government policy and means states must evaluate the consequences of their actions. 

Sunstein 2005 Cass R. Sunstein  and Adrian Vermeule “Is Capital Punishment Morally Required? Acts, Omissions, and Life-Life Tradeoffs.  Copyright (c) 2005 The Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.  Stanford Law Review December, 2005 58 Stan. L. Rev. 703

The critics of capital punishment have been led astray by uncritically applying the act/
AND
creating entitlements  *722  and prohibitions, is not inaction at all.

AND, the interests of species groups are more important than the interests of individuals. 

Holmes Rolston Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy Colorado State University Reflecting on Nature: Readings in Environmental Philosophy. Edited by Gruen, Lori, and Dale Jamieson (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), Contains Rolston, "Environmental Ethics: Values in and Duties to the Natural World," pp. 65--84.

A species exists; a species ought to exist. An environmental ethics must make
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level? The appropriate survival unit is the appropriate level of moral concern.

AND, species extinction is the biggest impact. 

Holmes Rolston 2 Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy Colorado State University. Reflecting on Nature: Readings in Environmental Philosophy. Edited by Gruen, Lori, and Dale Jamieson (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), Contains Rolston, "Environmental Ethics: Values in and Duties to the Natural World," pp. 65--84.

A shutdown of the life stream is the most destructive event possible. The wrong
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An ethics of respect for life is urgent at the level of species.¶

Tournament: Stanford | Round: 1 | Opponent: Granite Bay MJ | Judge: Alex Carter
I affirm Political philosophy must be practical and have consent among the ruled.

Rhonheimer 5 MARTIN RHONHEIMER 5 Prof Of Philosophy at The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. “THE POLITICAL ETHOS OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AND THE PLACE OF NATURAL LAW IN PUBLIC REASON: RAWLS’S “POLITICAL LIBERALISM” REVISITED” The American Journal of Jurisprudence vol. 50 (2005), pp. 1-70
It is a fundamental feature of political philosophy to be part of practical philosophy.
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ruled, but who potentially at the same time are also the rulers.

And, the only way policymakers can justify their decisions to the citizenry is to follow a utilitarian calculus. 

Woller 97 Woller, Gary BYU Prof., “An Overview by Gary Woller”, A Forum on the Role of Environmental Ethics, June 1997, pg. 10

Moreover, virtually all public policies entail some redistribution of economic or political resources
AND
perhaps at times a necessary, basis for public policy in a democracy.

AND, Consequences are the only morally relevant determination since they’re the only form of value we can experience.
Harris 10 Sam, 2010. CEO Project Reason; PHD UCLA Neuroscience; BA Stanford Philosophy.  The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values.”
Here is my (consequentialist) starting point: all questions of value (right
AND
, therefore, consequences and conscious states remain the foundation of all values.

The standard is maximizing expected well-being. Two more warrants.
People accept utilitarianism as an appropriate way to judge the actions of decision-makers. This commits governments to take actions with beneficial outcomes.
Gino et al 2008 Francesca Gino Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Don Moore Tepper Business School, Carnegie Mellon University, Max H. Bozman Harvard Business School, Harvard University “No harm, no foul: The outcome bias in ethical judgments” http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-080.pdf AT
The present studies provide strong evidence of the existence of outcome effects in ethically-
AND
to allow a decision’s outcome to determine their assessment of the decision’s quality.
No act omission distinction for states since their implicit approvals of actions still entail moral responsibility
Sunstein and Vermuele Cass R. Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule. The University of Chicago Law School. “Is Capital Punishment Morally Required? The Relevance of Life?Life Tradeoffs.” JOHN M. OLIN LAW and ECONOMICS WORKING PAPER NO. 239. The Chicago Working Paper Series. March 2005 AJ
In our view, both the argument from causation and the argument from intention go
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a set of policy instruments that do not adequately or fully discourage it.
That means util:
a. Responsibility for omissions would undermine any means-based theory since side-constraints are always violated, so only aggregation of consequences matters.
b. Without the distinction we are obligated to prevent future harms, which amounts to util since it collapses to a net benefits calculus. 

I advocate that Developing countries should ban primary mercury mining by 2020 and enact national action plans to phase-out the use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, as required by the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Article 3 sub (3) and (4), Article 7 and Annex C Selin evidence

FARC Advantage
Core
In Columbia, the FARC, a paramilitary terrorist organization, known for drug smuggling, has shifted their focus to illicit gold mining. Profits are soaring. 

Jamasmie on June 24th Cecilia Jamasmie, Latin American news editor for Mining.com, Masters of Journalism (MJ) from the University of British Columbia “Illegal gold mining profits for rebels in Colombia five times larger than cocaine” Mining. June 24, 2013. http://www.mining.com/illegal-gold-mining-profits-for-rebels-in-colombia-five-times-larger-than-cocaine-68592/

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and a new generation of drug
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“If you don’t hand over extortion payments, you can’t work there.”

Illicit mining, which utilizes mercury to extract gold, is now fueling the FARC’S war. 

Romero 2011 SIMON ROMERO, Brazil bureau chief for The New York Times. “In Colombia, New Gold Rush Fuels Old Conflict” The New York Times. March 3, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/americas/04colombia.html?pagewanted=alland_r=0

Seizing on the decade-long surge in gold prices, combatants from multiple sides
AND
showed that gold mining had become a source of financing for rebel group.

Formalizing the gold mining industry is the key to cutting off the FARCS financial lifeline. Illicit mines provide millions in funding and are necessary for them to launder other revenue.  

Herrera 2012 Laura Herrera “Illegal mining finances armed conflict in Colombia” Infosurhoy 2/12/2012. http://infosurhoy.com/en_GB/articles/saii/features/main/2013/02/12/feature-02

According to the study “Illegal Armed Actors in the Extractive Sector” published by
AND
not taking part in the peace negotiations, may continue carrying out extortions.”

The aff is necessary to formalize the small-scale gold mining industry, cutting off the FARCS access to funds.
ARM on February 21st “Implementing Appendix E of the Mercury Treaty: Creating opportunities for Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Miners. “The Alliance for Responsible Mining. Press Release. February 21, 2013. http://www.communitymining.org/attachments/285_PR_Mercury20Treaty.pdf

The global legally binding instrument on mercury (The Minamata Convention) has been discussed
AND
desired effect on health, environment ¶ and the lives of the miners.

Impact Cards
FARC rise in Latin America leads to global insecurity and unprecedented violence – also collapses US power
Ellis 04 (R. Evan, Ph.D., The Impact of Instability in Latin America, Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, 23(1), p. 187-193)
The growing disorder in the nations of the Andean ridge highlights a dangerous new phenomenon
AND
the region and undercut the basis for U.S. global power.
Narcostates causes genocide, poverty, and extinction
Manwaring 5 (Max G., Retired U.S. Army colonel and an Adjunct Professor of International Politics at Dickinson College, venezuela’s hugo chávez, bolivarian socialism, and asymmetric warfare, October 2005, pg. PUB628.pdf)
President Chávez also understands that the process leading to state failure is the most dangerous
AND
and their associated problems endanger global security, peace, and prosperity.65

Sub-Point  : Amazon Biodiversity.
Gold mining, which relies on mercury devastates the amazon, causing deforestation and mercury pollution
Sponsel 97 Les Sponsel, Professor of Anthropology, Director, Ecological Anthropology Program  at the University of Hawaii. “The Master Thief: Gold Mining and Mercury Contamination in the Amazon” summary of Chapter 5 by Leslie E. Sponsel in Life and Death Matters: Human Rights and the Environment at the End of the Millennium, Barbara R. Johnston, ed., 1997, Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, pp. 99-127. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/sponsel/Amazon/Mercury.html
Greed for gold was a pivotal concern in the exploration and colonization of the New
AND
of mercury contamination of the environment and its inhabitants has no historical precedent."
Gold mining is on the rise, putting increasing pressure on amazon ecosystems. It is twice as bad as previously thought, and the largest cause is gold mining. The resulting deforestation and mercury pollution are threatening amazon biodiversity.
Tegel 13 Simeon Tegel, GlobalPost's senior correspondent for South America “Peru's gold miners are killing the Amazon” Minnpost. 10/29/13. http://www.minnpost.com/global-post/2013/10/perus-gold-miners-are-killing-amazon
LIMA, Peru — The ravaging of the Peruvian Amazon by a wave of illegal
AND
we have vowed, as a nation, to protect for all humanity.
The destruction of the amazon causes extinction.
Howard 2011 (lead of Ecosystem Service and Poverty Alleviation Project, Wageningen Univ. Department of Social Sciences Faculty) “Tipping Points and Biodiversity Change: Consequences for Human Wellbeing and Challenges for Science and Policy” Draft Prepared for the Kavli Seminar“Addressing Global Tipping Points”13-15 March 2011 AT
In the 20 th century, we became aware that the fate of biodiversity and
AND
areas in re-sponse to climate change (Lovejoy and Hannah 2005).
Restricting mercury is necessary to stop the destruction of the amazon.
Leggett 2011 Martin Leggett, University of Manchester, Freelance Writer and Editor at Scribblin Green, Geodata Administrator at Petrologic. “Gold fever is driving Amazon loss and mercury pollution in Peru” Earth Times. 4/19/2011. http://www.earthtimes.org/pollution/gold-amazon-loss-mercury-pollution-peru/739/
Additionally, increasing quantities of toxic mercury, used to extract the precious metal from
AND
under better control, and so slow the needless environmental destruction and pollution.

The phase-out of primary mining will create economic incentives to shift to non-mercury methods.
Wade on September 27th Lizzie Wade, Freelance science writer and the Latin America correspondent for Science magazine “Gold's Dark Side” Science 27 September 2013:  Vol. 341 no. 6153 pp. 1443-1445
Simply banning artisanal mining—or mercury—isn't a realistic option, specialists have
AND
gold shops to capture, recycle, and resell mercury they now burn.
The national action plans will be effective at reducing mercury use in gold mining. The aff will create incentives for miners to give up their illicit tactics and join the formal economy, where they can be effectively regulated, solving pollution and deforestation.
Keane on March 4th. Susan Egan Keane “The Minamata Convention - what it means for Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining” Switchboard. National Resource Defense Counsel. March 4, 2013.  http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/skeane/the_minamata_convention_-_what.html
The very existence of a multilateral environment agreement of any kind, in this age
AND
between economic development from mining and the need to protect special and valuable natural

Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 2 | Opponent: Northland Christian DL | Judge: Halli Tripe
Part one: Abhorrent History 

Generations of disenfranchisement
(Hodkiss, Anita, trial attorney with over 35 years of experience defending companies and individuals in the state and federal trial and appellate courts) “Race and Election Irregularites on November 7 2000” 15-FEB NBA National Bar Association Magazine 18- (January/February, 2001)
"Civil rights organizations...from casting their votes" 

Progress of civil rights movements has been erased, Voting rights Act ruled unconstitutional .Knafo 13 (Saki, General Assignment Writer, has written for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, and Publishers Weekly) “Voting Rights Of Black Americans Trampled By 'New Jim Crow,' Civil Rights Advocates Say” Huffington Post, 07/25/2013
"More than a....a broader electorate" 

Laws dilute the power of the individual and creates collective action problem. Harvard Law Review 7 “THE CASE FOR COMPULSORY VOTING IN THE UNITED STATES” HARVARD LAW REVIEW Vol. 121:591 Dec 2007 

"certain groups are...the American population" 

Part two is breaking the chains. Voting ought to compulsory in the US

CV solves racism in voting by giving an equal voice. Cherry 09 (Ceridwen, Law Clerk at United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Voting Rights Intern at The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Intern at Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, University of Michigan Law School and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government) “Maximizing Participation: what the US can learn from compulsory voting” FairVote June 8, 2009
"Considering that the...of the people." 

CV key to resisting racist voting laws. Cherry 09 (Ceridwen, Law Clerk at United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Voting Rights Intern at The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Intern at Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, University of Michigan Law School and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government) “Maximizing Participation: what the US can learn from compulsory voting” FairVote June 8, 2009
"Many Americans do....reduces registration issues."

Voting is a form of empowerment-excludes blacks from democracy. Weatherspoon 7 (Floyd, expert in African-American males and the law, published in law journals and newspapers, associate dean for Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs, member of the National Bar Association and the American Bar Association, external Administrative Judge for the EEOC) “The Mass Incarceration of African-American Males: A Return to Institutionalized Slavery, Oppression, and Disenfranchisement of Constitutional Rights” 13 Texas Wesleyan Law Review 599 (2007)
"The struggle continues...de facto slavery"

Voluntary voting expresses view that disenfranchised groups don't matter. . Hannah Alejandro 11 Dean?s Fellow, Georgetown University Law Center; JD, LLM Georgetown University Law Center; BFA, New York University “The Sovereign Obligations of We, the People: An Argument for Compulsory Voting in the United States”  Georgetown Law Center. March 2011. SSRN
:obligations of civic...express equal opportunity"

Part three is the impact

Voting restrictions construct blackness as the anti-citizen, a permanent underclass that must be politically sterilized. Wacquant 05 (Loic, Distinguished University Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the New School for Social Research, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, and a Researcher at the Center for European Sociology in Paris. His interests comprise comparative urban marginality, the penal state, bodily crafts, social theory, and the politics of reason ) “Race as civic felony” UNESCO 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
"For nearly four...out, politically sterilized" 

These measures bias the system against black voters. Wacquant 05 (Loic, Distinguished University Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the New School for Social Research, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, and a Researcher at the Center for European Sociology in Paris. His interests comprise comparative urban marginality, the penal state, bodily crafts, social theory, and the politics of reason ) “Race as civic felony” UNESCO 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
"Although they are...sphere of exclusiveness" 

part four is the framework
A)Epistemology-conventional modde of experiecing the world is not an absolute truth. Scheurich and Young 97 (James Joseph Scheurich, Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas AandM University; Michelle D. Young, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration. Executive Director, University Council for Educational Administration) “Coloring Epistemologies: Are Our Research Epistemologies Racially Biased?” Educational Researcher, Vol. 26, No. 4. (May, 1997), pp. 4-16.
"Euro-American Modernism is...fringes of Europe"
B) Comparative justice, Amartya Sen Thomas W Larmont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. "The Idea of Justice." Penguin Publishing. 2010. Print
"Grand institutions success...part of justice"
Theories must affect lives of real people, Amartya Sen Thomas W Larmont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. "The Idea of Justice." Penguin Publishing. 2010. Print
"Justice is connected...able to lead"
C) Equality, Arneson, University of California, San Diego Professor of Political Philosophy. WHAT, IF ANYTHING, RENDERS ALL HUMANS MORALLY?EQUAL?
"All humans have....of civilized dialogue"
Best explanation for morality, Jacob Ross USC Associate Philosophy Professor. “Rejecting Ethical Deflationism.” Ethics , vol. 116, no. 4, pp. 742-768, 2006. www-bcf.usc.edu/jacobmro/ppr/deflation-ross.pdf
"Degrees of credence...Kantianism is true"
I affirm