Social Justice University

 

Suggested Assignments:  the first step in the development of a higher education institution

that focuses on social justice as described in the parables of Jesus the teacher.

 

The path to peace is always available. To get to Peace Avenue, begin on Justice Road.

 

1)  Assignment one:

Address the issue of human population.  Human beings, however different we may be in terms of a spiritual nature, live in and with the bodies of animals.  Humans have the same kinds of physical needs as animals, and therefore the human population depends on the resources provided by the natural environment and limitations on the quantity, quality and timing in which the necessary resources become available.  Suppose we made a commitment to protect the human population the same way that we protect a measured population of animals such as deer, bear, a particular fish, whales, or a particular bird.

            Task of this assignment:  Write down the number of human beings that you believe is the right number of human beings who can live in health and safety on Earth.  Write not more than five pages defending the number you have selected.  Or, as an alternative, describe a scientific method we could use to measure or project the right number of human beings (all of them) who can live in health and safety on Earth. 

 

2)  Assignment two:

Address the issue of how to evaluate candidates for elective office.  Our history tells us that people prefer the form of government we call "democracy" where the power of the people to govern themselves is exercised by people who are elected to public office.  Elections and the formation of political parties are complicated human activities.  Politics is often described as inherently corrupt.  Politicians are described as candidates who lie to voters and who accept money from a few donors in order to win an election and then represent the interests of only a few people instead of the many.  A candidate can be a kind of confidence artist who manipulates voters just to get elected, but who has no intention to enact the laws and policies that they said they would.  Therefore, how can a voter evaluate the honesty of a candidate for public office?    

            Task of this assignment:  Prepare a presentation to be delivered in writing and orally that describes and explains a method or methods for evaluating the honesty and integrity of a candidate for public office.  On what evidence should we base our belief that the candidate will do what they say they will do?

 

3)  Assignment three:

Throughout history philosophers and scientists have debated the apparent conflict between free will and determinism.  Individuals and groups are held responsible for their actions on the rational basis that they made a choice by free will.  Whatever they did, they chose to do it.  No outside force or mechanical cause forced them to complete an action or omit an action they should have completed.  Determinism is the obvious outcome of the scientific viewpoint, meaning the conclusion that all events are part of a cyclical process or a causal chain in the real, material world.  In a determined universe, every event or process that occurs is a physical effect arising from a preceding physical cause.  This determined universe is the natural world of the scientist that excludes any power or force that is super-natural, spiritual or distinctly separate from the real, material world.  In a universe with free will, an event or process can be an effect arising from a human decision that has no preceding physical cause.  Some argue that a free-will decision is similar to or the same as a random act, an act for which a chain of preceding physical causes cannot be identified.  Historically, this discussion of determinism versus free will has included the concepts of a contributing cause, a sufficient cause, and a necessary cause.  Controversial causes have also been classified according to the different definitions for the conditional concept that a person "may" act or do something, such as social permission, legal permission, physical capacity, opportunity, et cetera. 

            Task of this assignment:  Prepare a presentation to be delivered in writing or orally, preferably within five pages, which describes and explains how one could make a decision in a world where there is no cause and effect, a world where an event is not an effect that arises from a preceding cause or chain of contributing causes.  What is the effect of your efforts to complete this assignment?  What is your definition of freedom?      

 

(May 5, 2018)

4)  Assignment Four:

Business entities have been free throughout history to employ machines, including machines that take the place of human labor.  We have taken the technological step of developing robots to replace human labor.  This is the outcome of technological progress.  Business corporations have been reducing or eliminating the need for human labor since 1700, if not earlier.  A machine as basic as a water wheel or windmill is a replacement of human labor, or oxen labor.  It could be argued that robots have representation through their owners.  Robots use all of the infrastructure that humans pay for, and robotic laborers compete with human laborers.  Therefore, a question arises as to whether robots should be taxed.

            Task of this assignment:  Prepare a presentation to be delivered in writing or orally, preferably within five pages, which explains why robots should be taxed or not be taxed.  Would taxing robots be consistent with human progress and better living? Consider the proposition that if robots were sufficiently taxed, citizen taxation could be reduced to zero.  That might be the ultimate success of the technological revolution, the fulfillment of a promise that started with the birth of modern science and the hope of early scientists to relieve humankind from the burden of harsh labor. 

 

The path to peace is always available. To get to Peace Avenue, begin on Justice Road.