John Rawls on Justice

© by Dr. Jan Garrett

This web page was revised September 3, 2002; minor rev. September
2011

Note. This web page is based primarily on ideas contained in John Rawls'
influential book A Theory of Justice (Harvard University Press, 1971), which
has been discussed by many philosophers and nonphilosophers alike. Its
ideas are often quoted and paraphrased in textbooks for Introduction to
Philosophy, Ethics, and Business Ethics courses. But Rawls has gone
beyond his views of 1971, and philosophy courses are beginning to take
his important later thinking into account. The later ideas of Rawls to some
extent build on the earlier work summarized below. A new webpage has
been developed to accompany the discussion of Rawls' later ideas. See
John Rawls' Mature Theory of Social Justice.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Rawls' Method
3. Rawls' Two Principles of Justice
4. Beyond Rawls

Introduction

Selecting Principles of Justice. Different principles of distributive justice are

proposed by different philosophers. Does that mean that we may choose
any one of them with equal justification? A "yes" answer to this question
would make disputes about fairness impossible to settle. To avoid this, we
must find some non-arbitary method of selecting among proposed
principles of justice.

The Uses of Tradition.One method for resolving this issue might be to

follow the traditions of various practices that have grown up over time. For
example, the practice of grading students for their performance in
academic courses now includes a merit principle for determining most
grades: the grade a student receives should reflect the quantity and quality
of her work. It might be said in defense of such traditions that they have
survived because they have proven more satisfactory to the parties
affected, considered collectively, than other conceivable alternatives, such
as giving everyone the same grade or handing out grades in accordance
with the student's ability to pay. To argue this way would be to reinforce the
argument from tradition ("we've done it that way for a long time") by a kind
of Utilitarian argument ("let's optimize society's satisfaction").

The Problem of Radically Unjust Traditions. But traditions can be

oppressive and unjust. Activities that take place within unjust social
systems can themselves be unjust, in spite of their traditional nature. Thus
a practice of giving a person that which is "his" can be unjust. Suppose this
rule is included within a system of slave property, the "property" in question
is a slave, and the practice would require someone meeting an escaped
slave to return the slave to his or her master. The fact that the slave system
is unjust raises doubts about the justice of activities that occur within that
system, such as returning escaped "property" to its "owners." What is
needed is a way to determine when social systems, or the rules of justice
that govern society a s a whole, are just:

Such an approach to the selection of rules of distributive justice is provided

by John Rawls. Rawls' approach is not Utilitarian and it does not rely
heavily on arguments from tradition.

John Rawls' Method

We are to imagine ourselves in what Rawls calls the Original Position. We

are all self-interested rational persons and we stand behind "the Veil of
Ignorance." To say that we are self-interested rational persons is to say that
we are motivated to select, in an informed and enlightened way, whatever
seems advantageous for ourselves.

To say that we are behind a Veil of Ignorance is to say we do not know the
following sorts of things: our sex, race, physical handicaps, generation,
social class of our parents, etc. But self-interested rational persons are not
ignorant of (1) the general types of possible situations in which humans can
find themselves; (2) general facts about human psychology and "human
nature".

Self-interested rational persons behind the Veil of Ignorance are given the
task of choosing the principles that shall govern actual world. Rawls
believes that he has set up an inherently fair procedure here. Because of
the fairness of the procedure Rawls has described, he says, the principles
that would be chosen by means of this procedure would be fair principles.

A self-interested rational person behind the Veil of Ignorance would not

want to belong to a race or gender or sexual orientation that turns out to be
discriminated-against. Such a person would not wish to be a handicapped
person in a society where handicapped are treated without respect. So
principles would be adopted that oppose discrimination.
Likewise, a self-interested rational person would not want to belong to a
generation which has been allocated a lower than average quantity of
resources. So (s)he would endorse the principle: "Each generation should
have roughly equal resources" or "Each generation should leave to the next
at least as many resources as they possessed at the start."

The corollary of this, in rights terms, is that all generations have the same
rights to resources, future as well as present.

John Rawls' principles of justice.

Rawls argues that self-interested rational persons behind the veil of

ignorance would choose two general principles of justice to structure
society in the real world:

1) Principle of Equal Liberty: Each person has an equal right to the most
extensive liberties compatible with similar liberties for all. (Egalitarian.)

2) Difference Principle: Social and economic inequalities should be

arranged so that they are both (a) to the greatest benefit of the least
advantaged persons, and (b) attached to offices and positions open to all
under conditions of equality of opportunity.

(1) is egalitarian, since it distributes extensive liberties equally to all

persons.

(2b) is also quite egalitarian, since it distributes opportunities to be

considered for offices and positions in an equal manner.

(2a) is not egalitarian but makes benefit for some (those with greater
talents, training, etc.) proportionate to their contribution toward benefiting
the least advantaged persons.

(1) obviously echoes, without exactly duplicating, libertarianism in its

commitment to extensive liberties.

What does the Difference Principle mean? It means that society may
undertake projects that require giving some persons more power, income,
status, etc. than others, e.g., paying accountants and upper-level managers
more than assembly-line operatives, provided that the following conditions
are met:

(a) the project will make life better off for the people who are now worst off,
for example, by raising the living standards of everyone in the community
and empowering the least advantaged persons to the extent consistent with
their well-being,

and (b) access to the privileged positions is not blocked by discrimination

according to irrelevant criteria.

The Difference Principle has elements of other familiar ethical theories. The
"socialist" idea (see Distributive Justice) that responsibilities or burdens
should be distibuted according to ability and benefits according to need is
partly contained within the Difference Principle. We may reasonably
assume that the "least advantaged" have the greatest needs and that those
who receive special powers (hinted at under "social inequalities") also have
special responsibilities or burdens. However, the merit principle that the
use of special skills should be rewarded is also included in the Difference
Principle.

What (2a) does not permit is a change in social and economic institutions
that makes life better for those who are already well off but does nothing for
those who are already disadvantaged, or makes their life worse.

Example: policies that permit nuclear power plants which degrade the
environment for nearby family farmers but provide jobs for already well-paid
professionals who come in from the big cities.

Beyond Rawls

Rawls' theory of justice was set forth in his book A Theory of Justice
( Harvard University Press, 1971). Since then it has been much discussed,
and attempts have been made to improve and clarify it, not least by Rawls
himself. One of those attempts at improvement is that of Martha C.
Nussbaum (Women and Human Development), who has reinterpreted
Rawls' argument from the perspective of Substantial Freedom, an idea she
gets from Amartya Sen.

For Nussbaum the liberties mentioned in the Principle of Equal Liberty, if

they are to be meaningful at all, are capabilities or substantial freedoms,
real opportunities based on natural and developed potentialities as well as
the presence of governmentally supported institutions, to engage in political
deliberation and planning over one's own life.

Likewise, for Nussbaum, the concern of the Difference Principle to raise up

those who are least advantaged must be clarified in light of substantial
freedoms. What is needed, in her view, is a commitment by citizens and
governments to a threshold of real opportunities below which no human
being should fall if she is able to rise above it.