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
... particular those of coordination , efficiency , and stability . Thus the plans of individuals need to be fitted together so that their activities are compatible with one another and they can all be carried through without anyone's ...
... particular actions of many kinds , including decisions , judgments , and imputations . We also call the attitudes and dispositions of persons , and persons themselves , just and unjust . Our topic , however , is that of social justice ...
... particular society or to set up a particular form of government . Rather , the guiding idea is that the principles of justice for the basic structure of society are the object of the original agreement . They are the principles that ...
... particular condition , the principles of justice are the result of a fair agreement or bargain . For given the circumstances of the original position , the symmetry of everyone's relations to each other , this initial situation is fair ...
... particular position in some particular society , and the nature of this position materially affects his life prospects . Yet a society satisfying the principles of justice as fairness comes as close as a society can to being a voluntary ...