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Book No. – 4 (Political Science)
Book Name – Western Political Thought (Shefali Jha)
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1. JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS-ASSUMPTIONS
1.1. THE ORIGINAL POSITION OF THE VEIL OF IGNORENCE
2. THE DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE
2.1. REASONABLE PLURALISM AND THE OVERLAPPING CONSENSUS
2.2. PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
2.3. CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
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John Rawls (1921–2002): A Liberal Egalitarian Theory of Justice
Chapter – 14
Table of Contents
- John Rawls was an American political philosopher, renowned for his book A Theory of Justice (1971), which revived political philosophy.
- Rawls earned his undergraduate degree (1943) and Ph.D. (1950) in philosophy from Princeton University.
- He served in the American army during World War II and later became a professor at Harvard University.
- Rawls’s famous books include A Theory of Justice (1971), Political Liberalism (1993), and The Law of Peoples(1999).
- In a 1991 interview, Rawls explained that serious political conflict (e.g., Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement) prompted his work.
- Rawls believed political philosophy should address citizens, not just the government, aiming to win the authority of human reason.
- A Theory of Justice challenged the dismissal of political philosophy by behavioralism and emphasized the importance of moral and political problems in forming just social and political institutions.
- Rawls introduced a liberal egalitarian position on justice by weakening the link between justice and moral desert, offering new perspectives in political theory.
- Justice as fairness is the central theme of Rawls’s theory, which evolved through revisions over time.
- Rawls later focused on political liberalism, which prioritized legitimacy and stability in liberal societies, rather than reducing economic inequalities.
- The Law of Peoples focused on principles regulating interactions between peoples, which marked a shift in Rawls’s liberal egalitarianism.
- Rawls’s project aimed to define the appropriate conception of justice for social cooperation among free and equal citizens over time.
- He questioned what principles of justice, such as utilitarian, perfectionist, or liberal egalitarian, citizens in a democratic society would choose.
- Rawls emphasized that justice is essential for social cooperation, echoing the ancient Greek myth that justice allows humans to live together.
- Rawls stated that justice is the first virtue of social institutions, and his work focuses on justice as fairness and its relationship to political liberalism.