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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 96
... liberty . I had profitable discussions with David Richards on the problems of political duty and obligation . Although supererogation is not a central topic of the book , I have been helped in my comments on it by Barry Curtis and John ...
... LIBERTY 195 31. The Four - Stage Sequence 195 32. The Concept of Liberty 201 33. Equal Liberty of Conscience 205 34. Toleration and the Common Interest 211 35. Toleration of the Intolerant 216 36. Political Justice and the Constitution ...
... liberty and restrict economic and social inequalities to those in everyone's interests , there is no reason to think that just institutions will maximize the good . ( Here I suppose with utilitarianism that the good is defined as the ...
... liberty and they do this without a knowledge of their more particular ends . They implicitly agree , therefore , to conform their conceptions of their good to what the principles of justice require , or at least not to press claims ...
... liberty prior to the principle regulating economic and social inequalities . This means , in effect , that the basic structure of society is to arrange the inequalities of wealth and authority in ways consistent with the equal liberties ...