Outline of John Rawls from “Justice as Fairness” and A Theory of Justice (1921) pp. 305-312 The Second Article on Rawls

I The excerpt “Justice as Fairness A. Justice and Fairness are the same thing B. He considers justice only as a virtue of social institutions or what he calls practices C. Justice represents one of the many virtues of social institutions D. What he has to say about justice should not be equated with a all-inclusive vision of society. It is only one part of such a conception. E. He will focus on the following understanding of justice: “the elimination of arbitrary distinctions and the establishment, within the structure of a practice (i.e., institution), of a proper balance between competing claims (p. 306, par. 2).”

F. Rawls two principles of justice are not necessarily the only. ones F. Rawls two principles of justice are not necessarily the only ones. They are typical of the principles normally associated with justice. G. Rawls’ statement of the two principles of justice (p. 306, par. 4) 1. Note the contents of this paragraph in relation to the handout on Rawls’ two principles. 2. Note his comment: “These principles express justice as a complex of three ideas: liberty, equality, and reward f for services contributing to the common good (p. 306, par. 4).” H. In the remainder of the first excerpt, he discusses aspects of the two principles of justice (pp. 307 to 310)

II The excerpt A Theory of Justice A. In this excerpt Rawls discusses the notion of the maximin. “In order to make the principle regulating inequalities determinate, one looks at the system from the standpoint of the least advantaged representative man. Inequalities are permissible when they maximize, or at least all contribute to, the long-term expectations of the least fortunate group in society (p. 310, par. 3).” B. Another statement on the maximin “…that the two principles are those a person would choose for the design of a society in which his enemy is to assign him his place. The maximin rule tells us to rank alternatives by their worst possible outcomes: we are to adopt the alternative the worst outcome of which is superior to the worst outcomes of the others (p. 311, par. 1).”