A Theory of Justice

by Rawls, John

• ISBN13: 9780674000780
• ISBN10: 0674000781
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780674042582
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780674880146
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-30
• Publisher: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
• More Book Details

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.

Author Biography

John Rawls is James B. Conant University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Preface for the Revised Edition	xi
Preface	xvii
Part One. Theory
Justice as Fairness	3	(44)
The Role of Justice	3	(3)
The Subject of Justice	6	(4)
The Main Idea of the Theory of Justice	10	(5)
The Original Position and Justification	15	(4)
Classical Utilitarianism	19	(5)
Some Related Contrasts	24	(6)
Institutionism	30	(6)
The Priority Problem	36	(4)
Some Remarks about Moral Theory	40	(7)
The Principles of Justice	47	(55)
Institutions and Formal Justice	47	(5)
Two Principles of Justice	52	(5)
Interpretations of the Second Principle	57	(8)
Democractic Equality and the Difference Principle	65	(8)
Fair Equality of Opportunity and Pure Procedural Justice	73	(5)
Primary Social Goods as the Basis of Expectations	78	(3)
Relevant Social Positions	81	(5)
The Tendency to Equality	86	(7)
Principles for Individuals: The Principles of Fairness	93	(5)
Principles for Individuals: The Natural Duties	98	(4)
The Original Position	102	(69)
The Nature of the Argument for Conceptions of Justice	102	(3)
The Presentation of Alternatives	105	(4)
The Circumstances of Justice	109	(3)
The Formal Constraints of the Concept of Right	112	(6)
The Veil of Ignorance	118	(5)
The Rationality of the Parties	123	(7)
The Reasoning Leading to the Two Principles of Justice	130	(9)
The Reasoning Leading to the Principle of Average Utility	139	(5)
Some Difficulties with the Average Principle	144	(9)
Some Main Grounds for the Two Principles of Justice	153	(7)
Classical Utilitarianism, Impartiality, and Benevolence	160	(11)
Part Two. Institutions
Equal Liberty	171	(57)
The Four-Stage Sequence	171	(5)
The Concept of Liberty	176	(4)
Equal Liberty of Conscience	180	(6)
Toleration and the Common Interest	186	(4)
Toleration of the Intolerant	190	(4)
Political Justice and the Constitution	194	(6)
Limitations on the Principle of Participation	200	(6)
The Rule of Law	206	(8)
The Priority of Liberty Defined	214	(7)
The Kantian Interpretation of Justice as Fairness	221	(7)
Distributive Shares	228	(65)
The Concept of Justice in Political Economy	228	(6)
Some Remarks about Economic Systems	234	(8)
Background Institutions for Distributive Justice	242	(9)
The Problem of Justice between Generations	251	(8)
Time Preference	259	(4)
Further Cases of Priority	263	(4)
The Precepts of Justice	267	(6)
Legitimate Expectations and Moral Desert	273	(4)
Comparison with Mixed Conceptions	277	(8)
The Principle of Perfection	285	(8)
Duty and Obligation	293	(54)
The Arguments for the Principles of Natural Duty	293	(8)
The Arguments for the Principle of Fairness	301	(7)
The Duty to Comply with an Unjust Law	308	(5)
The Status of Majority Rule	313	(6)
The Definition of Civil Disobedience	319	(4)
The Definition of Conscientious Refusal	323	(3)
The Justification of Civil Disobedience	326	(5)
The Justification of Conscientious Refusal	331	(4)
The Role of Civil Disobedience	335	(12)
Part Three. Ends
Goodness as Rationality	347	(50)
The Need for a Theory of the Good	347	(3)
The Definition of Good for Simpler Cases	350	(5)
A Note on Meaning	355	(3)
The Definition of Good for Plans of Life	358	(7)
Deliberative Rationality	365	(7)
The Aristotelian Principle	372	(8)
The Definition of Good Applied to Persons	380	(6)
Self-Respect, Excellences, and Shame	386	(6)
Several Contrasts between the Right and the Good	392	(5)
The Sense of Justice	397	(53)
The Concept of a Well-Ordered Society	397	(8)
The Morality of Authority	405	(4)
The Morality of Association	409	(5)
The Morality of Principles	414	(6)
Features of the Moral Sentiments	420	(5)
The Connection between Moral and Natural Attitudes	425	(4)
The Principles of Moral Psychology	429	(5)
The Problem of Relative Stability	434	(7)
The Basis of Equality	441	(9)
The Good of Justice	450	(67)
Autonomy and Objectivity	450	(6)
The Idea of Social Union	456	(8)
The Problem of Envy	464	(4)
Envy and Equality	468	(6)
The Grounds for the Priority of Liberty	474	(6)
Happiness and Dominant Ends	480	(6)
Hedonism as a Method of Choice	486	(5)
The Unity of the Self	491	(5)
The Good of the Sense of Justice	496	(10)
Concluding Remarks on Justification	506	(11)
Conversion Table	517	(4)
Index	521