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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... possible a better life for all than any would have if each were to live solely by his own efforts . There is a conflict of interests since persons are not indifferent as to how the greater benefits produced by their collaboration are ...
... possible . Among individuals with disparate aims and purposes a shared conception of justice establishes the bonds of civic friendship ; the general desire for justice limits the pursuit of other ends . One may think of a public ...
... possible to formulate a reasonable conception of justice for the basic structure of society conceived for the time being as a closed system isolated from other societies . The significance of this special case is obvious and needs no ...
... possible his own welfare , his own system of desires , the principle for society is to advance as far as possible the welfare of the group , to realize to the Sentiments ( 1759 ) ; and Bentham's The Principles of Morals and Legislation ...
... possible , from all that one knows at this point , that some form of the principle of utility would be adopted , and therefore that contract theory leads eventually to a deeper and more roundabout justification of utilitarianism . In ...