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ETHICS-WEEK 8.2

John Rawls, a prominent political philosopher, developed a theory of justice emphasizing equal basic rights and liberties, as well as social justice principles that address inequalities. His framework includes the 'veil of ignorance' concept, which promotes fairness in societal rules by ensuring individuals do not know their social status or personal advantages. Rawls' principles prioritize basic liberties and advocate for fair equality of opportunity and the improvement of the least advantaged in society.

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Justine Nicole
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7 views

ETHICS-WEEK 8.2

John Rawls, a prominent political philosopher, developed a theory of justice emphasizing equal basic rights and liberties, as well as social justice principles that address inequalities. His framework includes the 'veil of ignorance' concept, which promotes fairness in societal rules by ensuring individuals do not know their social status or personal advantages. Rawls' principles prioritize basic liberties and advocate for fair equality of opportunity and the improvement of the least advantaged in society.

Uploaded by

Justine Nicole
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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JUSTICE AND

FAIRNESS
RAWLS’ JUSTICE – John Rawls was an
American political and ethical
philosopher, best known for his
defense of egalitarian liberalism in his
major work, A Theory of Justice. He is
widely considered the most important
political philosopher of the 20th century.
1.1 His First Principle guarantees the
equal basic rights and liberties needed
to secure the fundamental interests of
free and equal citizens and to pursue a
wide range of conceptions of the good.
He gave as examples most of the liberties in
the U.S. Bill of Rights, such as freedom of
freedom of speech and due process of law.
He agreed that basic liberties could be
limited, but only for the sake of liberty.
1.2. Rawls’ Second Principle of social
justice consisted of ‘fair equality of
opportunity’ and ‘the Difference Principle’.
While focused on equality, the Second
Principle recognizes that a society could not
avoid inequalities among its people. Even
so, Rawls maintained that a just society
ought to find ways to lessen inequalities in
areas where it can function.
The following are the four conditions
that Rawls advocated for the successful
conduct of a contract leading to the
formulation of the basic principles of
justice for a well-ordered society.
‘Circumstances of justice’ or ‘natural
fact’: Under the influence of Hume Rawls
considered that men are bounded by
incomplete knowledge, limited attention
and limited capacity of judgement –
these conditions are ‘natural’, not
artificial, alterable or modifiable.
3. ‘Veil of ignorance’: He also said:
“Among the essential features of this
situation is that no one knows his
place in society, his class position or
social status, nor does anyone know
his fortune in the distribution of natural
assets and abilities, his intelligence,
strength and the like. I shall even
assume the parties do not know their
conception of the good or their special
psychological propensities. The
principles of justice are chosen behind
a veil of ignorance.”
Rawls Difference Principle is the ideal
but controversial element of his theory
of social justice. He preferred
maximizing the improvement of the
‘least advantaged’ group in society
under his Difference Principle. To this
end, he suggested providing ‘fair equal
of opportunity’ and other possible
ways such as guaranteed minimum
income or minimum wage.
Rawls Difference Principle is the ideal
but controversial element of his theory
of social justice. He preferred
maximizing the improvement of the
‘least advantaged’ group in society
under his Difference Principle. To this
end, he suggested providing ‘fair equal
of opportunity’ and other possible
ways such as guaranteed minimum
income or minimum wage.
Rawls ranked his principles of social
justice according to his supposed order
of their priority. The First Principle
(‘basic liberties’) holds priority over the
Second principle. The first part of the
Second Principle (‘fair equality of
opportunity’) holds priority over the
second part (‘Difference Principle’).
He nonetheless held that both the First
and Second Principles together are
both indispensable for a just society.
Two primary principles supplement
Rawls’ veil of ignorance: the liberty
principle and the difference principle.
According to the liberty principle, the
social contract should try to ensure
that everyone enjoys the maximum
liberty possible without intruding upon
the freedom of others.
According to the difference principle, the
social contract should guarantee that
everyone an equal opportunity to prosper.
In other words, if there are any social or
economic differences in the social contract,
they should help those who are the worst
off. And, any advantages in the contract
should be available to everyone.
So, according to Rawls, approaching tough
issues through a veil of ignorance and
applying these principles can help us
decide more fairly how the rules of society
should be structured. And fairness, as
Rawls and many others believe, is the
Rawls was concerned with the distributive
form of justice. To him, it “… is upon a correct
choice of a basic structure of society, its
fundamental rights and duties, that the
justice of distributive share depends.” To find
out the best possible way to make such
a‘correct choice’ Rawls revived the notion of
social contract.
To Rawls, “Justice is the first virtue of social
institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.
A theory however elegant and economical,
must be rejected if it is untrue; likewise laws
and institutions no matter how efficient and
well-arranged, must be reformed or
abolished if they are unjust.
EQUALITY vs EQUITY
Equality has to do with giving
everyone the exact same resources,
whereas equity involves distributing
resources based on the needs of the
recipients.

• Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist:


Angus Maguire
ACTIVITY!

Kumuha limang picture na sa palagay


nyo ay nagpapakita ng Equality at
Equity. (Pagsasama samahin ang mga
picture at lagyan ng caption (bawat
picture) kung bakit ito ay nagpapakita
ng equality, equity o pareho.)
THANK YOU & GOD BLESS!!!!

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