John Rawls's 1971 treatise reconstructing social contract theory for the twentieth century. Rawls asks what principles of justice free and rational people would choose behind a veil of ignorance, a hypothetical original position in which no one knows their own place in society, and argues they would choose equal basic liberties for all together with the difference principle, that social and economic inequalities are justified only if they benefit the least advantaged.
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Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informations.v. John Rawls
Rawls first set out justice as fairness in systematic detail in his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice.
- Authored By: John Rawls
- In Category: Works
- In Branch: Political Philosophy
- Associated With: The Veil of Ignorance
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