John Rawls His Life and Theory of Justice

John Rawls was one of the most important political philosophers of our time, and promises to be an enduring figure over the coming decades. His Theory of Justice (1971) has had a profound impact across philosophy, politics, law, and economics. Nonetheless Rawlsian theory is not easy to understand, particularly for beginners, and his writing can be dense and forbidding. Thomas Pogge's short introduction (originally published in German) gives a thorough and concise presentation of the main outlines of Rawls's theory, introduces biographical information when necessary, and draws links between the Rawlsian enterprise and other important positions in moral and political philosophy.

Thomas Pogge is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and Professorial Research Fellow at the ANU Centre for Philosophy and Public Ethics. He has published widely on Rawls, Kant, political and moral philosophy, and on issues in global justice.

Preface 1. Biography 1.1. Family and Schooling 1.2. College and War 1.3. Academic Career 1.4. The Turbulent Decade 1962-1971 1.5. After A Theory of Justice 1.6. The Meaning of Rawls's Project 2. The Focus on the Basic Structure 2.1. The Origin of the Theory 2.2. The Complexity of Modern Sciences 2.3. The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus 2.4. The Scope of the Theory 3. A Top-Tier Criterion of Justice 3.1. Purely Recipient-Oriented Criteria of Justice 3.2. The Anonymity Condition 3.3. Fundamental Interests versus Happiness 4. The Basic Idea: Justice as Fairness 4.1. The Original Position 4.2. Maximin versus Average 4.3. Primary Goods 4.4. The Lexical Priority of the Basic Liberties 5. The First Principle of Justice 5.1. The Structure of a Basic Right 5.2. Formulating the Required Scheme of Basic Rights and Liberties 5.3. The Fair Value of the Basic Political Liberties 5.4. Permissible Reductions of Basic Liberties 5.5. Impermissible Reductions of Basic Liberties 6. The Second Principle of Justice 6.1. The Difference Principle in First Approximation 6.2. The Difference Principle in Detail 6.3. Advocating the Difference Principle in the Original Position 6.4. The Opportunity Principle 6.5. Advocating the Opportunity Principle in the Original Position 6.6. A Property-Owning Democracy 7. A Rawlsian Society 7.1. A Well-Ordered Society 7.2. A Political Conception of Justice 7.3. Political versus Comprehensive Liberalisms 7.4. An Egalitarian Liberal Conception of Justice 7.5. A Society Well-Ordered by Rawls's Conception 7.6. A More Realistic Vision 8. On Justification 8.1. Reflective Equilibrium 8.2. Fundamental Ideas 8.3. Truth and Reasonableness 9. The Reception of Justice as Fairness 9.1. Rawls and Libertarianism 9.2. Rawls and Communitarianism 9.3. Rawls and Kant Conclusion Appendix Index