John Rawls’s Theory of Justice

John Rawls’s theory of justice, which he calls ‘justice as fairness’, is perhaps the most influential work in moral and political philosophy produced in the twentieth century. It has stimulated an enormous interest in political philosophy, particularly in the theory of social justice. Rawls aimed to develop social contract theory to offer a systematic account of justice as a superior alternative to utilitarianism. 1 That is, he asks which principles of justice would rational people agree to, for their own advantage, from a position of equality? These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.