CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Contemporary Society

Contemporary Society

Rawls used A Theory of Justice to refine the theory of the social contract forged by thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke. Individuals in their “original position,” or natural state, most social philosophers argued, created a social contract. (It should be noted that these ideas were theoretical rather than historical in nature.) This contract defined the rights and obligations of all members of a given community or society. While some argued that the strongest and most talented in such a society would fare better than those who were weaker or less fortunate, Rawls's thoughts on the social contract were predicated on a “veil of ignorance”—that is, the representatives in this social contract should design laws without specific knowledge about their constituents' intelligence, wealth, or other factors. This, he argued, was the best way to ensure true fairness.

These representatives would also desire justice, and would use two guiding principles (which he collectively called “justice as fairness”): liberty and difference. The liberty principle would provide all citizens with a satisfactory number of basic rights—as many as the society could allow. While different rights might be added or subtracted for the purpose of gaining the most satisfactory collection of rights, this principle was absolute and could not be violated. The difference principle would study all of society's inherent inequalities and design laws or systems that benefit the least powerful social group.

Some inequalities, such as differences in pay, were still beneficial for society, so long as the skills of the better paid, such as doctors and lawyers, were available to all. Rawls also developed the idea of the “maximin” (or maximizing the minimum). A theoretical example of the application of Rawls's ideas might be found in a so-ciety's contemplation of the institution of slavery based on race. Ignorant of the race of one's family or friends (veil of ignorance), desiring to protect basic liberties (liberty principle), and working to defend the rights of any marginalized race (difference principle), the idea would be soundly rejected. Any rational person would avoid living in a society where s/he might be enslaved, and would seek out one where s/he would be most free. Rawls's later works refined his concepts of justice, considered the long-term viability of the system he advocated, and addressed his critics.

A Theory of Justice has attracted much attention, and a good deal of it is critical. Michael Sandel, for example, has claimed that Rawls's conception of individuals in the original position rules out the possibility of a person's being constitutively attached to his or her ends and that this conception is invalid and incoherent. Other critics have pointed out that it is not at all clear that the individual in the original position will select to maximize benefits for the least well-off given any reasonable account of risk taking.

Similarly, it is not entirely clear why basic liberties need to be equally distributed at all. Certainly, individuals do not maximize the use of all their ...