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Justice as Fairness: A Political Theory
John Rawls stands as the most notable and controversial political theorist of the twentieth century. In his 1971 work, A Theory of Justice, he proposed a conception of justice called “justice as fairness.” In Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, Rawls’ theories become a restatement of his earlier ones. Rawls argues persuasively for a political philosophy based on equality and individual rights. ... He therefore designs his theory of justice to govern the basic political, economic, and social structures of a well-ordered and self-governed society. ... In this essay I will discuss how Rawls’ justice as fairness is a political theory through examples that occur everyday in our society. I will focus on the two distinctive features of Rawls’ political theory which are, The Difference Principle, and The Original Position.
First, I will begin with the Difference Principle of Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness. ...
Secondly, I would like to address Rawls’ Operational Theory. ... This is Rawls theory of justice as fairness: the of rules justice are the rules which will get accepted in a group of people living together on equal terms (Rawls, 14).
Rawls would still assume that each roommate’s complete motives for living in harmony amongst one another is not a concern for fairness, but a concern for their own interests. ...
This brings up Rawls theory of the ‘veil of ignorance. ...
Now that I have introduced Rawls two principles of justice, as well explained Rawls operational theory, there is a hypothetical way to correlate Rawls theory of justice as fairness by applying it to a person becoming a doctor. ...
To briefly point out a contrasting view of Rawls’ political theory the concept of overlapping consensus should be recognized. Some believe that Rawls theory of justice as fairness leaves us with questions and problems. By calling justice as fairness political (Rawls, 188), Rawls has failed to provide a critical justification of his theory. And by doing this one has to wonder what reasons one would have to accept justice as fairness as a political theory that they would abide by. The theory that Rawls’ presents are not clear that it would be able to achieve an overlapping consensus of reasonable comprehensive views. ... Critics believe that Rawls’ revised theories in Justice as Fairness: A Restatement has not brought us any closer to a resolution of the issue that he raised in his previous works, but his theories still remain an important part of contemporary political philosophy. ... Rawls main concern is for the happiness and fairness of everyone living in a society. Rawls does not claim that the acceptance of his theory would result in the happiness of mankind, he only holds them as independent principles that if followed by a liberal democratic state could make a positive impact in terms of being redistributively just, that is the state could insure that its members were provided with basic rights and equal opportunities.
Approximate Word count = 2257
Approximate Pages = 9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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