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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... follow his preferences and to look at the problems which most concern him . In writing this book I have acquired many debts in addition to those indicated in the text . Some of these I should like to acknowledge here . Three different ...
... follow . Unavoidably there is some overlap between this and later discussions . I begin by describing the role of justice in social cooperation and with a brief account of the primary subject of justice , the basic structure of society ...
... and differences among per1. Here I follow H. L. A. Hart , The Concept of Law ( Oxford , The Clarendon Press , 1961 ) , pp . 155–159 . sons are relevant in determining rights and duties and they 5 1. The Role of Justice.
... follow . It is characteristic of contract theories to stress the public nature of political principles . Finally there is the long tradition of the contract doctrine . Expressing the tie with this line of thought helps to define ideas ...
... follow him in assuming , somewhat arbitrarily , that it begins with Shaftesbury's An Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit ( 1711 ) and Hutcheson's An Inquiry Concerning Moral Good and Evil ( 1725 ) . Hutcheson seems to have been the ...