John Rawls

1921-2002 · American · Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Liberal Political Theory

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.

John Rawls served in the Pacific, witnessed Hiroshima, and came back determined to answer what makes a society just. His answer revived the social contract tradition and redirected the field.

Topics John Rawls addresses

• justice as fairness
• the original position
• the veil of ignorance
• the two principles of justice
• the difference principle
• fair equality of opportunity
• the priority of liberty
• reflective equilibrium
• the basic structure of society
• primary goods
• the well-ordered society
• political liberalism
• reasonable pluralism
• overlapping consensus
• public reason
• the burdens of judgment
• reasonable comprehensive doctrines
• the liberal principle of legitimacy
• the duty of civility
• free and equal citizens
• the two moral powers
• Kantian constructivism
• the political conception of justice
• property-owning democracy

Questions to put to John Rawls

The Original Position and the Veil of Ignorance

• What exactly is the original position and how does it work?
• Why do you place parties behind a veil of ignorance?
• How is the veil of ignorance not just a thought experiment about amnesia?
• What do the parties in the original position actually know?
• Why would rational parties behind the veil choose your two principles instead of utilitarianism?

The Two Principles of Justice

• What are your two principles of justice?
• Why does the first principle have priority over the second?
• What do you mean by the difference principle?
• How is the difference principle not just leveling down the successful to help the poor?
• What's the difference between fair equality of opportunity and formal equality of opportunity?
• Why focus on the least advantaged rather than total welfare or average utility?

Property-Owning Democracy and the Basic Structure

• What do you mean by the basic structure of society?
• What is property-owning democracy and how does it differ from welfare-state capitalism?
• Why do you think property-owning democracy is better than socialism?
• How would property-owning democracy actually work in practice?
• Why focus on institutions rather than individual choices and personal virtue?

Political Liberalism and Public Reason

• What do you mean when you say justice as fairness is political not metaphysical?
• What is an overlapping consensus and why does it matter?
• What is public reason and when are citizens obligated to use it?
• How can people with deep religious convictions accept limits on what reasons they can offer in politics?
• What's the difference between a reasonable comprehensive doctrine and an unreasonable one?
• Why did you shift from the Kantian stability argument in Theory to political liberalism?

The Law of Peoples and Global Justice

• Why don't you extend the difference principle globally to help the world's poor?
• What is the duty of assistance and how does it work?
• How do you justify tolerating decent hierarchical societies that aren't liberal democracies?
• What are the eight principles of the Law of Peoples?
• Why do you think a people's wealth depends mainly on its political culture rather than resources?

Method and the Social Contract Tradition

• What is reflective equilibrium and how does it work?
• How is your view a continuation of Kant's social contract tradition?
• What do you mean by the two moral powers?
• How do you respond to the communitarian charge that you presuppose an unencumbered self?
• What is the maximin rule and why do parties in the original position use it?

Converse with John Rawls on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in John Rawls's own writing, cited to the page.