John Rawls 1921 – 2002
John Rawls was a 20th-century American political philosopher whose 1971 book A Theory of Justice is the most influential work of political philosophy of the post-war era. The book argues that the principles of justice for the basic structure of society are those that would be agreed to by rational individuals in an original position, behind a veil of ignorance about their own talents, social position, and conception of the good. His later work, Political Liberalism, addressed how a just society can sustain itself among citizens who hold reasonable but incompatible comprehensive doctrines. He revived the social contract tradition, gave the analytic tradition its most ambitious work in normative political philosophy, and shaped subsequent debates over justice, liberalism, and democratic theory. He taught at Harvard University for most of his career.
Key facts
- Nationality
- American
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Political, Analytic, Social Contract
Selected quotes
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Attributed to John Rawls:
“Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.”
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Attributed to John Rawls:
“Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.”
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Attributed to John Rawls:
“The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance.”
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Attributed to John Rawls:
“Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.”
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Attributed to John Rawls:
“Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage, and attached to positions and offices open to all.”