A Theory of Justice
Cover of the first American edition
|
|
| Author | John Rawls |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Distributive justice |
| Published | 1971 (Belknap) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 560 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 41266156 |
| 320/.01/1 21 | |
| LC Class | JC578 .R38 1999 |
A Theory of Justice is a work of political philosophy and ethics by John Rawls, in which Rawls attempts to solve the problem of distributive justice (the socially just distribution of goods in a society) by utilising a variant of the familiar device of the social contract. The resultant theory is known as "Justice as Fairness", from which Rawls derives his two principles of justice: the liberty principle and the difference principle. First published in 1971, A Theory of Justice was revised in both 1975 (for the translated editions) and 1999.
In A Theory of Justice, Rawls argues for a principled reconciliation of liberty and equality that is meant to apply to the basic structure of a well-ordered society. Central to this effort is an account of the circumstances of justice, inspired by David Hume, and a fair choice situation for parties facing such circumstances, similar to some of Immanuel Kant's views. Principles of justice are sought to guide the conduct of the parties. These parties are recognized to face moderate scarcity, and they are neither naturally altruistic nor purely egoistic. They have ends which they seek to advance, but prefer to advance them through cooperation with others on mutually acceptable terms. Rawls offers a model of a fair choice situation (the original position with its veil of ignorance) within which parties would hypothetically choose mutually acceptable principles of justice. Under such constraints, Rawls believes that parties would find his favoured principles of justice to be especially attractive, winning out over varied alternatives, including utilitarian and right-libertarian accounts.
Rawls belongs to the social contract tradition, although he takes a different view from that of previous thinkers. Specifically, Rawls develops what he claims are principles of justice through the use of an artificial device he calls the Original position in which everyone decides principles of justice from behind a veil of ignorance. This "veil" is one that essentially blinds people to all facts about themselves so they cannot tailor principles to their own advantage:
...
Wikipedia