John Rawls: a Theory of Justice

question 1

Essay

John Rawls: A Theory of Justice
The social contract theory, which has roots in Plato and was developed by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, grounds moral requirements in social agreements made for the sake of mutual advantage. Rawls presents a novel social contract theory, which has two main parts. The first part of the theory identifies the correct principles of justice as those "that free and rational persons concerned to further their own interests would accept in an initial position of equality as defining the fundamental terms of their association." To ensure that the principles selected by contractors are fair, Rawls imposes a crucial restriction on the "original position" from which the contractors select principles. In Rawls's theory, the correct principles of justice are those that would be chosen from behind a veil of ignorance, whereby individuals are stripped of any particular knowledge about themselves, their social position, or their conception of the good. In putting forward this idea of the original position, Rawls claims that he is simply making vivid "the restrictions that it seems reasonable to impose on arguments for the principles of justice."
Rawls maintains that contractors in the original position would agree on two principles of justice. First, "each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive scheme of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar scheme of liberties for others." Second, "social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage, and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all." The first of these principles is lexically prior to the second - i.e., the first principle (concerning liberty) trumps the second (concerning inequality). The guiding thought behind the two principles, Rawls claims, is that inequalities can be just only when they benefit the least advantaged members of society. Rawls points out that his theory thus differs sharply from utilitarianism, according to which we ought to maximize well-being, and shares commonalities with Kant's moral philosophy.
-Write an essay critically examining one of the principles of justice that Rawls endorses. First, state the principle and briefly explain what it implies for the way society ought to be structured. Then present what you take to be the strongest objection to the principle. Do you find the principle plausible? Why or why not?

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Definitions:

Normally Distributed

A type of distribution depicted by a bell-shaped curve, where most of the observations cluster around the central peak and the probabilities for values further away from the mean taper off equally in both directions.

Standard Normal Distribution

A standard normal distribution characterized by a zero mean and a standard deviation of one, utilized in the analysis of statistics.

Symmetrically Distributed

A distribution where the values of variables show symmetry around the mean.

Gestation Time

The duration of time between conception and birth in animals, including humans.