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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... 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 versions of ...
... Preference 293 46. Further Cases of Priority 298 47. The Precepts of Justice 303 48. Legitimate Expectations and Moral Desert 310 49. Comparison with Mixed Conceptions 315 50. The Principle of Perfection 325 CHAPTER VI . DUTY AND ...
... preferences and the initial equality of the contracting parties . Although the utilitarian recognizes that , strictly speaking , his doctrine conflicts with these sentiments of justice , he maintains that common sense precepts of ...
... preference to other traditional conceptions of justice , for example , those of utility and perfection ; and that these principles give a better match with our considered judgments on reflection than these recognized alternatives . Thus ...
... preference among primary social goods . When this preference is rational so likewise is the choice of these principles in this order .. In developing justice as fairness I shall , for the most part , leave aside the general conception ...