John Rawls (1921-2002)

Introduction
John Rawls, the 20th century American philosopher, is credited for the revival of political
philosopher and normative political theory. His position in the contemporary political
philosophy is at par with Plato in classical political philosophy. John Rawls is also known as
an Egalitarian Philosopher and is widely known as a social liberal.
Influences on Rawls
John Locke
➢ John Rawls developed his theory of Justice on the social contract theory of John
Locke.
➢ According to the social contact theory, the state of nature was a state of peace,
goodwill, mutual assistance and preservation. However, there was no common
authority to make, execute and adjudicate laws.
➢ This necessitated the creation of the State.
➢ Rawls, like John Locke has given his theory using the social contract tradition.
Immanuel Kant
➢ Immanuel Kant, an influential German philosopher is widely known for his concept
of human dignity.
➢ Immanuel Kant and Rawls both are contractarians. They both arrive at the
principles for social justice by the social contract model.
➢ Rawls was influenced by Kant in the designing of his philosophy of Justice based
on
Fairness. He is influenced by the concept of Human Dignity of Kant.
➢ Like Kant, Rawls believes that human dignity has to be one of the foundational
principles of the theory of Justice.
➢ Thus Rawls suggests that, within Liberalism there is a superior tradition that is
the
tradition of Moral Individualism.
Context of his Times
➢ Rawls was writing when the American society was witnessing many social
movements like Black Rights movements, Feminist movements, Environment
movements, movements on Disarmament, Opposition of Vietnam War, etc.
➢ These movements influenced Rawls in developing his theory of Justice (1971).
➢ This lead to the revival of the Normative political theory.

Works of Rawls
➢ His article ‘Justice as Fairness’ published in 1985 – John Rawls describes his
conception of Justice in this article.
➢ The Theory of Justice (1971) – In this, Rawls tries to provide an alternative theory
to Utilitarianism and the one which would address the problem of distributive justice.
➢ Political Liberalism (1993) – In this, he modified his theory of Justice in the light of
criticism by Communitarians.
➢ Laws of People (1993) – In this, he responded to the challenges posed to his
theory
by the cosmopolitan scholars like Charles Beitz and Thomas Pogge.
Rawls School of Thought
➢ Rawls belongs to the school of Positive Liberalism or Social Liberalism.
➢ He is a critic of Utilitarianism.
➢ In his theory of Justice, Rawls has criticized Utilitarian idea of justice.
➢ He describes his theory as ‘Deontological’ – Duty based.
➢ For Utilitarians, utility is the yardstick of Ethics. For them, whatever gives them
pleasure is desirable.
➢ For Rawls, justice as fairness is based on human dignity and is not dependant on
utility. It is above utility.
➢ Rawls describes his theory as purely procedural.
Rawls Methodology
➢ He uses the methodology of ‘social contract’.
➢ People as representatives have assembled to formulate the principles of Justice.
➢ Social contract, according to Rawls, will ensure that the principle of Justice are
outcomes of rational dialogue or deliberation rather than imposed from
outside.
➢ It will result into emergence of consensus on the foundational principles
governing
the society.
Features of Original Position
➢ People have assembled to determine the principles of distribution of primary
goods.
➢ Rawls mentioned two types of primary goods:
• Natural Primary goods – Natural qualities. Rawls does not talk about the
distribution of these qualities.
• Social Primary goods – He talks about the distribution of five primary goods,
which include:
✓ Rights
✓ Liberty
✓ Income
✓ Wealth
✓ Dignity
➢ These are the primary goods which are the means to achieve the secondary
goods.
➢ According to Rawls, every person has some rational plan and primary goods are
needed to achieve these rational plans.
What type of people have assembled?
➢ Rawls does not look at the individuals as Hobbesian Individuals.
➢ In Rawls theory, the people are moral.
➢ They are disinterested persons (mutually).
➢ They have an inherent desire for justice.
➢ They have a sense of what is right and what is wrong.
➢ They are the people who understand that cooperation is beneficial.
Veil of Ignorance
➢ It is a thought experiment
➢ Purpose of the experiment: To bring people in a situation from where they can
look
at the things from a rational perspective.
➢ Behind the Veil of Ignorance, people are unaware of particular facts about
themselves
and the society.
➢ They only have a general idea about economics and Psychology.
Reflexive Equilibrium
➢ Rawls has used the approach of reflexive Equilibrium in the context of principles
of justice which will be chosen by the people.
➢ These principles of justice are a reflection of our inherent moral sense.
➢ These principles have arrived from our innate sense of Justice inherent in our
minds.
➢ Reflexive Equilibrium is a process by which we streamline, verify our judgments.
This
happens when we question our beliefs.
➢ Moral judgments have their origin in the society. Justice as fairness reflects
Reflexive Equilibrium.
Maximin principle
➢ For Rawls, people are rational negotiators.
➢ The rational choice is to maximize the advantages and minimize the
disadvantages.
What is a Rational Choice?
➢ According to Rawls, rational choice is the selection of an alternative whose worst
outcome is better than the worst outcomes of any other alternative.
Principles of Justice
➢ Liberty Principle
➢ Equality of Opportunity
➢ Difference Principle – society should take care of those who happen to be at least
advantage.
Lexical Order
➢ Rawls insists that justice prevails only when every departure from equality can
be rationally justified.
➢ In Rawls hypothetical situation called the ‘original position’, people have
elementary knowledge of economics, psychology and what Rawls calls – ‘a sense of
justice’.
➢ According to Rawls, these people are self-interested but not egoists.
➢ They are interested in maximizing their primary good .i.e. Liberty, opportunity,
Income, wealth and Dignity.
➢ These people are not affected by the position of others and hence there is no
scope
of envy.
➢ According to Rawls, these hypothetical people would be conservative risk-takers.
And therefore in a situation of uncertainty, they will opt for the least disadvantageous
outcome for any choice presented before them.
➢ Hence, people would choose those principles which would maximize the position
of the least advantageous section by assuming that when this veil is removed, they
themselves would turn out to be the least advantageous one.
➢ According to Rawls, people would choose the following principles of justice:
1. Each individual to have an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible
with the liberty others have got.
2. Social and economic inequalities are to be sequenced in such a way that they
are both:
a) To the greatest benefit of the least advantaged
b) They are attached to positions that are open to all under conditions of equal opportunity and
equality.
➢ According to Rawls, these principles are sequenced in a particular order and are
subject to a priority rule (Lexical Order).
➢ The first principle must always come before the second.
➢ The 2(a) must come before 2(b).
➢ By doing this, there is no risk of the individual liberty to get compromised for the
liberty of others.
➢ According to Rawls, inequalities have to be so arranged that they benefit the
worst-off sections.

Justice as Fairness
➢ What is Justice?
According to Rawls, Justice is fairness. Justice means to be fair to all those who have
been at an advantageous and also those who are at a disadvantageous position.
➢ The theories of Justice are based on the following principles:
• Desert – what one deserves on the basis of his quality
• Merit – from the perspective of the society. I.e. what the society values.
• Need – What an individual requires for his existence.
➢ Rawls while proposing his concept of Justice has taken into consideration all the
three
principles of Justice .i.e. Desert (Talent), Merit and Need.
➢ His principle of justice is fair to those who happen to be the most advantaged as
well
as least advantaged.
➢ Rawls does not consider Liberty and Equality as antithetical to each other. Rather
he looks at Liberty and Equality as complementary to each other.
➢ Rawls considers Justice as the 1st Virtue of Social Institution.
Justice and Human Dignity
➢ According to Rawls, people differ in their talents. Hence inequality is inevitable.
➢ However, inequalities related to different offices and positions can be justified
only
when they result in the development of resources which can be utilized for the
worst-off sections of the society.
➢ For example, those who are talented should have more income and wealthy. But
their
possession of greater income and wealth is justified only when it is used for the
weaker sections of the society.
➢ According to Rawls, what is not a matter of our talent is also a matter of chance.
Hence we should compensate those who have not been as advantageous as we are.
Rawls argument for Democratic Equality
➢ Rawls lived in a time when there were widespread protests and movements for
equal rights and opportunities.
➢ According to him, stability is possible only when people in a democratic political
culture treat each other as equal citizens ready to offer fair terms to develop an
“overlapping consensus” on political conception of justice.
➢ For Rawls, democratic equality is necessary for the stability in the society where
people adhere to different comprehensive doctrines.
Communitarian Critique of Rawls
➢ According to the communitarians, Rawls has not given adequate importance to
the community.
➢ The basic objection of Michael Sandel in his book ‘Liberalism and Limits of Justice’
is Rawls conception of self, his highly Individualistic stand and his view of the
society.
➢ Communitarians do not support the argument that Liberty i.e. Freedom to make
choice should be above other values. It is necessary that the life of a person exercising
his freedom of choice is superior to the life of a person not exercising his freedom of
choice.
➢ Communitarians also suggest that we are not free to choose our ends. According
to
them, end is already given. We discover our ends rather than choosing them.
➢ Rawls priority to liberty is based on the conception of Atomistic man. However,
for
communitarians, man is a situated self.
➢ Michael Walzer in his book ‘Spheres of Justice’ states that different goods ought
to
be distributed differently according to the meaning attached to them by different
Groups.

Quotes by John Rawls

➢ “Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.”

➢ “The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are
born
into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and
unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.”
➢ “[E]ach person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty
compatible
with a similar liberty for others.”
➢ “Thus I assume that to each according to his threat advantage is not a conception
of justice.”
➢ “Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even welfare of a
society
as a whole cannot override.”
➢ “Right is prior to good.”

Conclusion
Rawls theory of Justice is appreciated for it is grounded in the concept of Human
Dignity. Only in such societies where human dignity is a value system can be at peace and
harmony. Rawls revived the principles of Normative philosophy. His masterpiece ‘A
Theory of Justice’ is considered as a reference point by all contemporary political
philosophers from Nozick to Amartya Sen.