PHIL 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Justice As Fairness
31 Dec 2015
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He was an american philosopher who taught at harvard university. Theoretical background: social contract theorists like hobbes and locke, and enlightenment philosophers like kant. He contended that the ultimate base of society is a set of tacit agreements among its members based on such an implicit contract, he formulates a theory of justice that was grounded in the rational agency of humans. Rawls calls his approach justice as fairness, which aims the principles of justice at the institutional level of society so that they organize any further social cooperation. He invites us to imagine an initial situation of political negotiation that he calls the original position. It is to be understood as a purely hypothetical situation. It includes: veil of ignorance: a theoretical device to ensure impartiality and fairness. There are social (wealth, income, opportunities) and physical primary goods (health, talent, beauty). When social conditions provide sufficient goods rawls believes that we would opt for a special conception of justice.
