John Rawls is James B. Conant University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is the author of Political
Liberalism.
Summary
Since it appeared in 1971, John Rawls's A Theory of Justice has become a classic. The author has now
revised the original edition to clear up a number of difficulties he and others have found in the original book.
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.
Table of Contents
Preface for the Revised Edition
Preface
PART ONE THEORY
Chapter Justice as Fairness
The Role of Justice
The Subject of Justice
The Main idea of The Theory of Justice
The Original Position and Justification
Classical Utilitarianism
Some Related Contrasts
Intuitionism
The Priority Problem
Some Remarks about Moral Theory
The Principles of Justice
Institutions and Formal Justice
Two Principles of Justice
Interpretations of The Second Principle
Democratic Equality and The Difference Principle
Fair Equality of Opportunity and Pure Procedural Justice
Primary Social Goods as The Basis of Expectations
Relevant Social Positions
The Tendency to Equality
Principles for Individuals: The Principle of Fairness
Principles for Individuals: The Natural Duties
The Original Position
The Nature of The Argument for Conceptions of Justice
The Presentation of Alternatives
The Circumstances of Justice
The Formal Constraints of The Concept of Right
The Veil of Ignorance
The Rationality of The Parties
The Reasoning Leading to The Two Principles of Justice
The Reasoning Leading to The Principle of Average Utility
Some Difficulties with The Average Principle
Some Main Grounds for The Two Principles of Justice
Classical Utilitarianism, Impartiality, and Benevolence
PART TWO: INSTITUTIONS
Equal Liberty
The Four-Stage Sequence
The Concept of Liberty
Equal Liberty of Conscience
Toleration and The Common Interest
Toleration of The Intolerant
Political Justice and The Constitution
Limitations on The Principle of Participation
The Rule of Law
The Priority of Liberty Defined
The Kantian Interpretation of Justice as Fairness
Distributive Shares
The Concept of Justice in Political Economy
Some Remarks about Economic Systems
Background Institutions for Distributive Justice
The Problem of Justice between Generations
Time Preference
Further Cases of Priority
The Precepts of Justice
Legitimate Expectations and Moral Desert
Comparison with Mixed Conceptions
The Principle of Perfection
Duty and Obligation
The Arguments for The Principles of Natural Duty
The Arguments for The Principle of Fairness
The Duty to Comply with an Unjust Law
The Status of Majority Rule
The Definition of Civil Disobedience
The Definition of Conscientious Refusal
The Justification of Civil Disobedience
The Justification of Conscientious Refusal
The Role of Civil Disobedience
PART THREE: ENDS
Goodness as Rationality
The Need for a Theory of The Good
The Definition of Good for Simpler Cases
A Note on Meaning
The Definition of Good for Plans of Life
Deliberative Rationality
The Aristotelian Principle
The Definition of Good Applied to Persons
Self-Respect, Excellences, and Shame
Several Contrasts between The Right and The Good
The Sense of Justice
The Concept of a Well-Ordered Society
The Morality of Authority
The Morality of Association
The Morality of Principles
Features of The Moral Sentiments
The Connection between Moral and Natural Attitudes
The Principles of Moral Psychology
The Problem of Relative Stability
The Basis of Equality
The Good of Justice
Autonomy and Objectivity
The Idea of Social Union
The Problem of Envy
Envy and Equality
The Grounds for The Priority of Liberty
Happiness and Dominant Ends
Hedonism as a Method of Choice
The Unity of The Self
The Good of The Sense of Justice
Concluding Remarks on Justification
