John Rawls

John Rawls (1921–2003) US academic and political philosopher. His major work, A Theory of Justice (1971), is regarded as the most important work of political philosophy written in English since the Second World War. It has influenced modern liberals and social democrats alike, and is sometimes credited with having re-established the status of normative political theory.

Rawls employed the device of the social contract to develop an ethical theory which represents an alternative to utilitarianism. His theory of ‘justice as fairness’ is based upon principles that he believed people would support if they were placed behind a veil of ignorance which deprived them of knowledge of their own social position and status. He proposed that social inequality is justified only if it works to the benefit to the least advantaged (in that it strengthens incentives and enlarges the size of the social cake). This presumption in favour of equality is rooted in the belief that people cooperating together for mutual advantage should have an equal claim to the fruits of their cooperation and should not be penalized as a result of factors, such as gender, race and genetic inheritance, over which they have no control. Redistribution and welfare are therefore ‘just’ because they conform to a widely held view of what is fair. Rawls developed a similar justification for the principles of equal liberty and equality of opportunity. In Political Liberalism (1993), he somewhat modified the universalist presumptions of his early work.