A Theory of Justice: Original EditionJohn Rawls aims to express an essential part of the common core of the democratic tradition—justice as fairness—and to provide an alternative to utilitarianism, which had dominated the Anglo-Saxon tradition of political thought since the nineteenth century. Rawls substitutes the ideal of the social contract as a more satisfactory account of the basic rights and liberties of citizens as free and equal persons. “Each person,” writes Rawls, “possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.” Advancing the ideas of Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, and Lincoln, Rawls’s theory is as powerful today as it was when first published. |
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... duties and obligations . Their objections led me to eliminate much of this topic and to simplify the treatment of ... duty and obligation . Although supererogation is not a central topic of the book , I have been helped in my comments ...
... DUTY AND OBLIGATION 333 51. The Arguments for the Principles of Natural Duty 333 52. The Arguments for the Principle of Fairness 342 53. The Duty To Comply with an Unjust Law 350 54. The Status of Majority Rule 356 55. The Definition of ...
... duties and for determining what they take to be the proper distribution of the benefits and burdens of social cooperation . Thus it seems natural to think of the concept of justice as distinct from the various conceptions of justice and ...
... duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation . By major institutions I understand the political constitution and the principal economic and social arrangements . Thus the legal protection of freedom of thought ...
... Duty to Be Just , ” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society , vol . 53 ( 1952–53 ) ; and J. O. Urmson , “ The Interpretation of the Philosophy of J. S. Mill , " Philosophical Quarterly , vol . 3 ( 1953 ) . See also J. J. C. Smart ...