Justice & Fairness:

Promoting the
Common Good
The Nature of the Theo
 John Rawls
•The rst and unique contributor to the study of
Ethics.
•Professor of Philosophy at Ha ard University
•He develop the “The Theo of the Good as Justice
and Justice conceived as Fairness.
•Justice means giving each person what he or she
dese es or, in more traditional terms, giving each
person his or her due.
Three Kinds of Justice
COMPENSATORY JUSTICE
Refers to the just way of
compensating people for what they
lost as a result of wrongful actions
done on them.
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Refers to the just imposition of
punishments and penalties on those
guilty of pe orming wrongful acts.
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Refers to the just distribution of bene ts
(such as rights & socioeconomic goods)
and burdens (such as sacri ce and
obligations).
 a) Egalitarianism
•This theo claims that a ce ain distribution is
just if eve member of a group receives an
equal share of the distribution. On the level of
states (or governmental) distributions.
b) Capitalist Justice
•This theo claims that a ce ain
distribution is just if eve member of
a group receives his or her share in the
distribution according to or in
propo ion to his or her contribution
to the success of the goals of the
group.
c) Socialist Justice
This theo claims that a ce ain
distribution is just if eve member of
the group receives his or her share in
the distribution according to or in
propo ion to his or her needs