John Rawls
(1921 – 2002)
American political philosopher of the liberal tradition, considered to be one of the most influential political philosophers in the 20th century. His works helped refocus Anglo-American moral and political philosophy, and revitalized the social-contract tradition. He rejected Utilitarianism, which had been the dominant liberal political philosophy throughout the twentieth century. He saw Utilitarianism as ultimately incompatible with the democratic values of freedom and equal rights, and he created a theory of justice based on the idea of a social contract.
In his seminal work, A Theory of Justice (1972), Rawls articulated and defended a version of egalitarian liberalism. His main concern was how to create a society in which free and equal people could live in mutual agreement on basic principles of justice. He also aimed to resolve the conflict between freedom and equality and show that that the conflict between the two is illusory. Instead, he shows how both freedom and equality can be integrated into a unity which he called justice as fairness.
— His theory of justice as fairness advocates for equal basic liberties, quality of opportunity and in the case of inequalities, facilitates maximum benefit to the least advantaged members of society.
The basis for these principles is a thought experiment, which Rawls calls the original position. The thought experiment is modelled on the idea of a state of nature from previous social contract thinkers (cf. Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau).
— The experiment asks you to consider, which political and social principles you would choose for the basic structure of society.
— However, you must make the decision from behind a veil of ignorance – that is, you do not know ahead which ethnicity, social status, gender, etc. you will have in that society
— Hence, it would be in your best interest, to strive to improve the position of those the worst off, because you might find yourself in that position
From the original position thought experiment, Rawls derives two principles of justice:
— Liberty principle, which establishes equal basic liberties for all citizens
— Equality principle, which is comprised of two: (1) Fair Equality of Opportunity, which maintains that offices and positions have to be open to all, regardless of their social background or gender and (2) the Difference principle, which regulates inequalities in a way that is advantageous to those worse-off.