Rawls' Theory of Justice as Fairness

Abstract

John Rawls is one of the greatest philosophers in the field of moral theory and a representative of moderate liberalism. The main idea behind his work A Theory of Justice, published in 1971, is justice as fairness, or rather establishing a society in which social security of each individual would be guaranteed, with special emphasis on the care of those who are less privileged (social principle). In forming his moral theory he leans on Kant a great deal, on the tradition of the social contract, and he places the deontological moral against the utilitarian (teleological) one. The fact that in his theory he included a number of virtues typical of the Judeo-Christian tradition – fairness in choosing the principles of a just society, dignity of every human, the original position which means an ideal position (the Garden of Eden), the social principle (poor Lazarus), emphasizing mutual agreement (Babylon or Pentecost) – has encouraged a lively discussion among theologians. The absence of metaphysics, the fact, that these virtues are present in Rawls’ liberal theory in their secularised form, points to a certain ambiguity or even contradiction: on the one hand, it means a certain search within the liberalism itself (in a way scared of itself), while on the other hand liberalism with its method and starting points denies the possibility of recognizing certain virtues and their arguments.