An American political philosopher who taught for decades at Harvard, author of A Theory of Justice (1971), among the most influential works of political philosophy written in the twentieth century. Rawls proposed that the fair principles for a society's basic institutions are those that free and rational people would choose from behind a veil of ignorance, a hypothetical position in which each chooser is denied knowledge of their own place in society, natural talents, or particular conception of the good, so that self-interest cannot bias the choice. He argued that reasoners placed behind that veil would settle on two principles in order of priority: equal basic liberties for all, and that social and economic inequalities be arranged to benefit the least advantaged members of society, a conclusion Rawls set explicitly against utilitarianism, which he argued could justify sacrificing some individuals' basic rights whenever doing so raised the aggregate good.
Facts
TraditionTwentieth century political philosophy, liberal contractarianism 2 Connections
Critiqued Here
Associated With
Source Law, Philosophy of: The Nature of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Rejected Here
A Theory of Justice was framed explicitly against utilitarianism, which Rawls argued could justify sacrificing an individual's basic rights and liberties whenever doing so raised the aggregate good.
In Branch
Works Attributed
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: John Rawls
WikipediaLead, opening sentenceQuote, Lead, opening sentence
John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921, November 24, 2002) was an American philosopher, most active in moral, legal, and political philosophy.
2. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informations.v. John Rawls
His theory of justice as fairness describes a society of free citizens holding equal basic rights and cooperating within an egalitarian economic system.
- Works Attributed: A Theory of Justice
View the Source Law, Philosophy of: The Nature of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyAssociated With: Philosophy of LawView the Source G.A. Cohen (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: G.A. Cohen, Academic career section, self-ownership sentence, re RawlsQuote, Associated With: G.A. Cohen, Academic career section, self-ownership sentence, re Rawls
contrasting his views with those of John Rawls and Robert Nozick by articulating an extensive critique of the Lockean principle of self-ownership as well as the use of that principle to defend right as well as left-libertarianism
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Associated With: Utilitarianism
Utilitarian critics have pushed back on Rawls's own framing of the veil of ignorance as a decisive advantage over their view. The objection runs that reasoners behind the veil, facing genuine uncertainty about their own future position, would rationally choose something closer to a risk-averse form of utilitarianism rather than Rawls's maximin difference principle, so the thought experiment does not settle the argument as one-sidedly as A Theory of Justice presents it. This atlas records Rawls's own rejection of utilitarianism as the settled framing of his position, attested, while noting here that the argument was contested on its own methodological ground, not only rejected from outside it.
A dissenting reading, from a reviewerStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Information
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