Pitogo, Elloani Ross A.

BS CpE-5 October 6, 2017

Summary on John Rawls Theory of Justice: Notes for Theories of Justice, CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

John Rawls proposed different theories to support what he believe what justice is. He aims to develop
intuitionism which will be more superior to utilitarianism. This intuitionism is also called as the No
Theory theory where one could derive a conclusion on what should be done given enough information
and statement of the principles without further evaluation. In times of having conflicting values a priority
problem occurs and this could be solved by having priority ranking. Rawls also proposed to revise the
social contract of tradition into the idea of justice as fairness where justice is what free and equal persons
should agree to.

John Rawls defined the basic structure of society as the way in which the major social institutions
distribute fundamental rights and duties. It is in the basic structure that makes a difference into our lives.
People born into different social position will have inequalities and Rawls believe it is in these deep
inequalities that social justice is developed among people.

Utilitarianism contradicts Rawls theory. Rawls said that each person has their own sense of justice that
even the welfare of the society as a whole cant be override. A violation of a persons own beliefs in
exchange for other peoples safety should not count positively in determination of a just society.
Utilitarianism, according to Rawls, does not take seriously the individuals own sense of justice.

The conflict of deciding on following our own personal beliefs or the general principles could be
answered by the reflective equilibrium. Reflective equilibrium is a position in which our own personal
judgements can be derived from the general principles that we follow.

CHAPTER TWO

According to Rawls, Good is subjective, what makes something good for you depends on your desire
and every people have different desires. Even if we dont agree on what is good, we may agree about
general purpose means that will be useful in evaluating our actions which are called primary goals. These
primary goals are basis of interpersonal comparisons for some theories of justice.

Two principles of justice of Rawls are equal liberty and social inequality. Equal liberty is where each
person has an equal right to the basic liberties (e.g. political, freedom of speech). Social inequality is where
social and economic inequalities are corrupted to the greatest benefit of the least advantage. It is also
called the difference principle.

Fair equality of opportunity demands fair distribution of opportunities to become qualified for social
competition.

Article source: http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rarneson/Rawlschaps1and2.pdf