John Rawls and Utilitarianism Heath C. Hoculock The social contract theory of John Rawls challenges utilitarianism by pointing out the impracticality of the theory. Mainly‚ in a society of utilitarians‚ a citizens rights could be completely ignored if injustice to this one citizen would benefit the rest of society. Rawls believes that a social contract theory‚ similar those proposed by Hobbes‚ Locke‚ and Rousseau‚ would be a more logical solution to the question of fairness in any government
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outcomes. Rawls states that social justice is a type of fairness‚ where the social cooperation appropriately distributes the burdens and benefits of society (1999: 4). Rawls aims to do this using the theoretical device of the Original Position. The intention of the thought experiment is to establish rules for the basic structure of society that would create a fairer society and advance the interests of the mutually disinterested parties involved. The conclusion about social justice that Rawls comes to
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political theory over the past 50 years‚ and John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (1971) is widely seen as the most important attempt during that period to articulate a set of institutions and distributional outcomes that rational individuals would see as legitimate. Rawls’ seminal work has spawned a veritable critical industry since its publication (Miller‚ 1999). His elaboration of his project and restatement of his theory of “justice as fairness” (Rawls‚ 2001) promise to sustain interest in his ideas
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Rawls Theory of Justice A contemporary philosopher‚ John Rawls (1921-2002)‚ is noted for his contributions to political and moral philosophy. In particular‚ Rawls ’ discussion about justice introduced five important concepts into discourse‚ including: the two principles of justice‚ the “original position” and “veil of ignorance”. Rawls most famous work is‚ A Theory of Justice (1971) gives an introduction to this body of thought and he emphasises the importance justice has on governing and organising
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The conventional accounts of Justice normally begin by stating a fundamental rule of Aristotle – Justice is to treat equals equally and unequals unequally‚ and that unequal treatment should be in proportion to the inequality. In everyday life though‚ justice is seen as an attribute of law‚ while all laws are not necessarily just. Many great socio- political movements of the world have focused from time to time on unjust laws eg Apartheid laws in South Africa and Caste laws in India. Impartiality
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Rawls’ Difference Principle Rawls believed in the ideal of perfect equality. This meant‚ to him‚ that everyone should have equal opportunity and receive the same treatment. To Rawls‚ there was only one reason why anyone should be treated differently to any other person – to help the worst off members of society. He called this reason the difference principle‚ and in conjunction with his “Justice as Fairness” ideal it formed the basis of his claims about distributive justice. Rawls’ natural
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Rawls’ View of Ignorance Rawls theory of justice revolves around the adaptation of two fundamental principles of justice which would‚ in turn‚ guarantee a just and morally acceptable society. The first principle guarantees the right of each person to have the most extensive basic liberty compatible with the liberty of others. The second principle states that social and economic positions are to be a) to everyone’s advantage and b) open to all. A key problem to Rawls is to show how such principles
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the naturalist theory of justice advocated by Binmore should be conceived of as belonging to one family of such doctrines‚ but not as overriding a political conception of justice. A political conception of justice‚ as famously put forward by John Rawls‚ rests on fundamental democratic values. The premise is that an irreducible pluralism of views about what justice requires and about what constitutes the relationship between individuals and the society they live in renders it impossible to base justice
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Corporate Social Responsibility John Rawls and Robert Nozick present two competing theories of justice Compare and contrast the two Which view is more persuasive and why? What implications does your position have regarding the structure of our society? Module No: 26160 Student Number: 200912136 John Rawls and Robert Nozick both present theories of justice‚ their views are very distinct and on some level similar. Rawls theory comes from a utilitarian view‚ utilitarian is a doctrine that
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Justice as Fairness John Rawls responds to the question of justice with his own theory of Liberalism. Liberalism utilizes a social contract as a conceptual basis from which moral reasoning can be considered just. Rawls claims that the best way to look at morality is by referring to the principles‚ which govern society‚ based on an initial situation of equality. He explains this initial situation of equality by proposing a hypothetical original position: “The guiding idea is that the principles of
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