| Description |
xv, 607 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Form |
Also issued online. |
| Contents |
pt. 1: Theory. 1. Justice as fairness. The role of justice -- The subject of justice -- The main idea of the theory of justice -- The original position and justification -- Classical utilitarianism -- Some related contrasts -- Intuitionism -- The priority problem -- Some remarks about moral theory -- 2. The principles of justice. Institutions and formal justice -- Two principles of justice -- Interpretations of the second principle -- Democratic equality and the difference principle -- Fair equality of opportunity and pure procedural justice -- Primary social goods as the basis of expectations -- Relevant social positions -- The tendency to equality -- Principles for individuals: the principle of fairness -- Principles for individuals: the natural duties -- 3. The original position. The nature of the argument for conceptions of justice -- The presentation of alternatives -- The circumstances of justice -- The formal constraints off the concept of right -- The veil of ignorance -- The rationality of the parties -- The reasoning leading to the two principles of justice -- The reasoning leading to the principle of average utility -- Some difficulties with the average principle -- Some main grounds for the two principles of justice -- Classical utilitarianism, impartiality, and benevolence. |
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pt. 2: Institutions. 4. Equal liberty. The four-stage sequence -- The concept of liberty -- Equal liberty of conscience -- Toleration and the common interest -- Toleration of the intolerant -- Political justice and the constitution -- Limitations on the principle of participation -- The rule of law -- The priority of liberty defined -- The Kantian interpretation of justice as fairness -- 5. Distributive shares. The concept of justice in political economy -- Some remarks about economic systems -- Background institutions for distributive justice -- The problem of justice between generations -- Time preference -- Further cases of priority -- The precepts of justice -- Legitimate expectations and moral desert -- Comparison with mixed conceptions -- The principle of perfection -- 6. Duty and obligation. The arguments for the principles of natural duty -- The arguments for the principle of fairness -- The duty to comply with an unjust law -- The status of majority rule -- The definition of civil disobedience -- The definition of conscientious refusal -- The justification of civil disobedience -- The justification of conscientious refusal -- The role of civil disobedience. |
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pt. 3: Ends. 7. Goodness as rationality. The need for a theory of the good -- The definition of good for simpler cases -- A note on meaning -- The definition of good for plans of life -- Deliberative rationality -- The Aristotelian principle -- The definition of good applied to persons -- Self-respect, excellences, and shame -- Several contrasts between the right and the good -- 8. The sense of justice. The concept of a well-ordered society -- The morality of authority -- The morality of association -- The morality of principles -- Features of the moral sentiments -- The connection between moral and natural attitudes -- The principles of moral psychology -- The problem of relative stability -- The basis of equality -- 9. The good of justice. Autonomy and objectivity -- The idea of social union -- The problem of envy -- Envy and equality -- The grounds for the priority of liberty -- Happiness and dominant ends -- Hedonism as a method of choice -- The unity of the self -- The good of the sense of justice -- Concluding remarks on justification. |
| Summary |
This volume is a widely-read book of political philosophy and ethics. Arguing for a principled reconciliation of liberty and equality, it attempts to solve the problem of distributive justice (this concerns what is considered to be socially just with respect to the allocation of goods in a society). The resultant theory is known as "Justice as Fairness", from which the author derives his two famous principles of justice -- the first of these two principles is known as the equal liberty principle. The second principle is split into two parts; the first, known as fair equality of opportunity, asserts that justice should not benefit those with advantageous social contingencies; while the second, reflecting the idea that inequality is only justified if it is to the advantage of those who are less well-off, is known as the difference principle. |
| Subject |
Justice.
|
|
Social Justice.
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Philosophy.
|
| ISBN |
0674880102 |
|
9780674880108 |
|
0674880145 hardcover |
|
9780674880146 hardcover |
|
