Great question - this is a tricky one. This question requires us to apply a principle outlined in the stimulus. The stimulus says that a society is just when, and only when, first each person has an equal right to basic liberties, and second, inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth are not tolerated unless these inequalities are to everyone's advantage and are attached to jobs open to everyone. "When and only when" is equivalent to "if and only if,' which indicates a bidirectional relationship: A <->B.
In other words, for society to be just both conditions must be true:
just society -> equal rights + income inequality is not tolerated unless advantageous to everyone + attached to jobs open to everyone
and if both conditions are true, society is just
equal rights + no economic inequality unless advantageous to everyone + attached to jobs open to everyone -> just society
we can further infer that if either is false, the society is unjust:
~ equal rights OR ~income equality unless advantageous/ attached to jobs -> unjust society
Notice that the second part "income inequality is not tolerated" involves a nested conditional as well, introduced with "unless":
income inequality is tolerated -> advantageous to everyone + attached to jobs open to everyone not advantageous to everyone or not attached to jobs -> income inequality is not tolerated
This condition tells us that it is possible for a society to have income inequality and still be just but ONLY IF income inequality is advantageous to everyone + attached to jobs open to everyone. If either of these conditions is false, and the society has income inequality, we can conclude that it is unjust.
~advantageous to everyone OR ~ attached to jobs open to all AND income inequality -> unjust society
Let's apply this principle to the answer choices:
(A) Society S guarantees everyone an equal right to basic liberties while allowing inequality that is to the advantage of everyone. The jobs are open to most people. Thus. society is just.
Incorrect. Since jobs are open to most people, not all as required for income inequality to be tolerated, we can eliminate (A).
(B) Society S gives everyone an equal right to basic liberties, but at the expenses of creating inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth. Thus, S is not just.
Incorrect. It is possible for a society to have income inequality and be just as long as income inequality is advantageous to everyone AND attached to jobs open to everyone. Since we have no information whether these statements are true or false, we cannot conclude that S is not just or just.
(C) Society S allows inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth, although everyone benefits, and these inequalities are attached to jobs that are open to everyone. Thus, S is just.
Incorrect. These facts tell us that society S meets only one of the necessary conditions - income/ wealth distribution but we have no information regarding equal rights, hence we cannot conclude that it is just.
(D) Society S distributes income and wealth to everyone equally but at the expense of creating inequalities in the right to basic liberties. Thus, society S is not just.
Correct. If there is no right to basic liberties, we can conclude that society is unjust as it is one of the necessary conditions. It is not enough to meet only one of the conditions - income inequality - both must be true.
(E) Society S gives everyone an equal right, and although there is inequality in the distribution of income, the jobs are open to all. Thus, society S is just.
Incorrect. Income inequality must be advantageous to everyone + jobs must be open to all for us to conclude that society is just. Since we only know that one of these conditions is true - jobs open to all, we cannot conclude that society is just.
