1 Is Nozick right that the only kind of state that can be justified is the
minimal state?
2 Either (a) Do citizens of liberal democratic states have a natural
duty to obey the law?
Or (b) ‘I have not explicitly consented to the authority of the
state, therefore I have no duty to obey the law.’ Discuss.
3 Either (a) In which ways, if any, is justice as fairness an egalitarian
theory?
Or (b) Is Rawls’ difference principle preferable to a strict
equality principle?
4 ‘Securing and maintaining equality requires violating the rights of selfownership.’ Discuss.
5 ‘A distributional scheme treats people as equals when it distributes or
transfers resources among them until no further transfer would leave
them more equal in welfare.’ Discuss.
6 ‘According to egalitarians, it would be better if we removed the eyes of
the sighted, not to give them to the blind, but simply to make everyone
equally blind.’ Discuss.
7 Either (a) Is there more to liberty than the absence of interference?
Or (b) ‘Positive liberty is a dangerous political ideal, we should
therefore reject it.’ Discuss.
8 Can freedom have value independently of the value we attach to the
specific things we are free to do?
9 Either (a) ‘Democracy is one of the worst forms of government for
acquiring knowledge about what to do in a society.’
Discuss.
Or (b) What is the most serious problem for deliberative
democracy?
10 In order to be a democrat, do you always have to approve of the
majority’s decision?