John Rawls
Theory of justice
Sayings by John Rawls
Once we understand the principles of justice, we can then apply them to the real world, and see what kind of society they would lead to.
A just society is a society that everyone would agree to live in, if they did not know what their own position in that society would be.
The primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society, or more exactly, the way in which the major social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation.
No one deserves his greater natural capacity nor merits a more favorable starting place in society.
The basic liberties are not to be sacrificed for economic gain.
Justice as fairness is not a complete contract theory.
The original position is a hypothetical situation, not an actual historical state of affairs.
A well-ordered society is a society regulated by a public conception of justice.
The concept of justice I want to elaborate is that of justice as fairness.
We are not to think of the original position as an actual assembly.
The problem of justice is to specify the principles that free and rational persons concerned to further their own interests would accept in an initial position of equality.
The principles of justice are ranked in lexical order.
The proper perspective is that of the original position.
The intuitive force of the difference principle is that it ensures that the least advantaged benefit from the achievements of the more advantaged.
The role of justice is to specify the fair terms of social cooperation.
The principles of justice are to be publicly recognized as regulating the basic structure of society.
The veil of ignorance is a device of representation.
Justice is the standard by which the competing claims of individuals and groups are to be assessed.
The natural lottery is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into certain positions in society.
What is just is what is chosen in the original position.