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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... given society or to adopt a given form of government , but to accept certain moral principles . Moreover , the undertakings referred to are purely hypothetical : a contract view holds that certain principles would be accepted in a well ...
... given supporting grounds . Thus what we shall do is to collect together into one conception a number of conditions on principles that we are ready upon due consideration to recognize as reasonable . These constraints express what we are ...
... given from the first a definite content ) and they must insure that just institutions are stable . Thus certain initial bounds are placed upon what is good and what forms of character are morally worthy , and so upon what kinds of ...
... given the desired weighting of these aims , and the existing institutional setup , the precepts of fair wages , just taxation , and so on will receive their due emphasis . In order to achieve greater efficiency and equity , one may ...
... given their different positions in society they surely will not . Thus I suppose that in the original position the parties try to reach some agreement as to how the principles of justice are to be balanced . Now part of the value of the ...