Theory Of Justice

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THEORY OF JUSTICE Justice is the full description of how a society’s main institutions should be ordered and a good society is one that is structured according to principles of justice. In The Theory of Justice, John Rawls aims to present a conception of justice which generalizes and carries to a higher level of abstraction the familiar theory of the social contract. The guiding idea is that the principles of justice for the basic structure of society in accordance with social structure--- justice as fairness. The principles that free and rational persons concerned to further their own interests would accept an initial position of equality defining the fundamental terms of their association. The theory of justice is divided into two main parts: 1) provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of society; 2) define the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of society. Rawls observes that, by his definition, well-ordered societies are rare due to the fact that ‘‘what is just and unjust is usually in dispute.’’ He further notes that a well-ordered and perfectly just society must be formulated in a way that addresses the problems of ‘‘efficiency, coordination, and stability.’’ In a well-ordered society everyone is presumed to act justly and to do his part in upholding just institutions. It is designed to advance the good of its members and is effectively regulated by a public conception of justice. No one would enter into this social cooperation voluntarily and therefore would be placed at birth in a particular position in a particular society cooperating with other fellow citizens fairly and seeking public norms that can be justifiable to others. Principles of justice are exactly the kind of public norms they are looking for, because these principles treat all citizens fairly and represent a fair scheme of social cooperation.

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