Scribd
Upload
20 views3 pages

John Rawls Justice

Uploaded by

Keshni goel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
20 views3 pages

John Rawls Justice

Uploaded by

Keshni goel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

John Rawls’ Theory of Justice

Justice has diverse interpretations. Justice for one may not be justice for
someone else. John Rawls was considered to be one of the most
influential political philosophers of the 20th century.

Rawls’ theory
John Rawls was a firm opposer of utilitarianism, who was of the view that just
or fair actions are the ones that bring the greatest amount of good for the
greatest number. He condemned utilitarianism because he argued that it
paves the way for governments to function in ways that bring happiness to a
majority but ignore the wishes of a minority.

Rawls was a political liberal, which is why he emphasised the need for a state
that is neutral between the various perspectives of values. He calls this
“justice as fairness.” He argues that if all the people in society come together
to make collective principles of governing themselves, the outcome would be
the rules that are influenced by only certain sections of people. This is
because a variety of people exist in society; they may be rich, poor,
educated, uneducated, etc. People of such variety are bound to have
differences in their opinions and interests. These differences would eventually
give birth to a situation wherein justice is compromised to satisfy the
interests of the influential sections of people. Ultimately, justice is not
achieved.

Objective of the theory


The very purpose of Rawls was to find a way to create a well-ordered society
which should have the following elements:

 It should be designed for the good of its members and effectively


regulated by a public conception of justice
 It should be a society wherein all people accept and know that all other
people accept the same principles of justice and that the basic social
institutions satisfy those principles.

A well-ordered society
Rawls’ theory of justice is inspired by the Social Contract Theory as
interpreted by the political philosopher, Kant. Rawls extended Kant’s theory
by taking the hypothetical contract wherein the decision-makers come
together to formulate rules for the basic structure of a well-ordered society,
using set principles of justice. As per Rawls, this formulation is done by
observing the following conditions of the contract:

1. Circumstances of justice
As per Rawls, the circumstances of justice are the normal conditions under
which human cooperation is both possible and necessary.

 Objective circumstances- refer to circumstances that give rise to a


situation in which the members of a society co-exist in a territory and
are of some comparable strengths and weaknesses so that no one has
an upper hand over another.
 Subjective circumstances- refer to circumstances that give rise to a
situation in which few members of the society have conflicting interests
in the resources available. When such interests contradict, a need for
justice arises.

2. Original position
John Rawls in his book A Theory of Justice imagines a hypothetical scenario
where a group of people ignorant of social, economic, physical, or mental
factors come together to make laws for themselves. This imaginary initial
position of equality is what Rawls calls an original position. In the original
position, the parties have the choice to select the principles of justice that are
to govern the basic structure of society. These principles must ensure that
the benefits and burdens of society are just or fair to all parties.

3. Veil of ignorance
To achieve justice for all, it is vital to set aside personal interests and be
rational. To reach a rational mindset, Rawls argues that one must imagine
himself as if he is behind a “veil of ignorance.” This veil of ignorance is a
hypothetical separation between the decision-maker and the society. It
prevents him from knowing any material facts about himself or the people for
whom he is making the rule. These factors may be –

 Demographic facts – Examples of which may be age, sex, ethnicity,


level of income, personal strengths and weaknesses, etc.
 Societal facts – Examples of which may be the type of government,
societal organisation, culture and traditions, etc.
 Decision-maker’s view – These are the decision-maker’s values and
preferences of how one’s life should be. It also includes specific morals
and political beliefs.
There are two main aspects of the veil of ignorance: self-ignorance and public
ignorance. Firstly, it abstains the decision-maker from knowing anything
about himself. It is essential for him to not know his own position in society,
because knowing may tempt him to make decisions that favour his future
self. Such ignorance is crucial to avoid the personal bias of the decision-
maker.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy