1. Rawls’ Justice Srijit Mishra IGIDR, srijit@igidr.ac.insrijit@igidr.ac.in HDP, Lectures 5, 6 and 7 13, 18 and 20 January 2012

2. Presentation Format Four Roles of Political Philosophy Reasonable versus Rational Fundamental ideas –Society as fair system of co-operation, –Well Ordered Society –The Basic Structure –The Original Position –Free and Equal Citizens Two Principles of Justice Discussing some Situations 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP2

3. Four roles of political philosophy Practical role: Need to settle the problem of order. Agreement on divergent views or narrowing of differences. Orientation: Contribute to how people think of their political and social institutions … Reconciliation: We are in a society where different people adhere to different doctrines (comprehensive or partial – reasonable pluralism …). Profound and irreconcilable differences. Not easy to accept. (Fair system of cooperation) Realistically utopian: Probing the limits of practicable political possibility. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP3

4. Reasonable vs Rational Reasonable persons – ready to propose or accept when proposed by others the principles needed to specify what can be seen as fair by all. Reasonable persons also understand that they are to honor these principles, even at their own expense if situation warrants. It is unreasonable if one is not prepared to propose or not to honor fair terms of cooperation. Worse then honorable if one merely seems or pretends to propose or honor but is ready to violate them to one’s advantage. What is unreasonable need not be not rational. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP4

5. Society as a Fair System of Cooperation Social cooperation is guided by publicly recognized rules and procedures which those cooperating accept as appropriate to regulate their conduct. It includes the fair terms of cooperation. Terms that all may reasonably accept or adhere to because others adhere to it. It specifies an idea of reciprocity or mutuality. All who do their part are to benefit by specified and publicly agreed- upon standard. It includes each participant’s rational advantage or good. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP5

6. Well-Ordered Society A society effectively regulated by a public conception of justice. It contains three things –Implied by public conception of justice: it is a society which everyone accepts and knows that everyone else accepts the very same political conception of justice. –Implied by effective regulation …: society’s basic structure is publicly known and also believed to satisfy those principles of justice. –Also implied by effective regulation: citizens have a normally effective sense of justice, ie, one that enables them to understand and apply the publicly recognized principles of justice …act accordingly … 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP6

7. The Basic Structure The way in which the main political and social institutions fit together into one system of social cooperation, and the way they assign basic rights and duties and regulate the division of advantages that arises from social cooperation over time. Constitution, independent judiciary, private property, structure of economy (free markets), family in some form A background social framework within which activities of associations and individuals take place. Basic structure as the primary subject of political justice. Principles of justice applies to the basic structures, but not to the institutions and association within the society. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP7

8. Limits to Inquiry Limit ourselves to the basic structure (leave aside local justice) – Concerned with nature and content of justice for a well-ordered society (ideal – democratic society under reasonably favorable conditions … non-ideal) Not discuss just relations between people. They can be adjusted to each other in the course of working them out. It is a political conception and not a moral doctrine. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP8

9. The Original Position -1 We start with the organizing idea of society as a fair system of cooperation between free and equal citizens. Leads to a question. How to specify the fair terms of cooperation? Hand of God. Or, reference to moral order of values (rational intuition). Or, natural law. Or, agreement by the free and equal citizens engaged in cooperation and made in view of what they regard as their reciprocal advantage or, good. (recall pluralism) 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP9

10. The Original Position - 2 It must situate free and equal positions fairly. It must not permit some to have unfair bargaining advantages over others. … threats of force and coercion, deception and fraud, and so on must be ruled out. But, in day to day life the background institutions of the basic structures … affect the terms of the agreements reached. These situations should also satisfy the conditions for valid and fair agreements … Need for extending the idea of fair agreement to the basic structure. So that fair agreement is not distorted by the basic structure. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP10

11. The Original Position - 3 Original position under the veil of ignorance satisfies … In the original position, the parties are not allowed to know the social positions or the particular comprehensive doctrine of the persons they represent. They also do not know persons’ race and ethnic group, sex or various native endowments …We express this by saying that the parties are under a veil of ignorance. … Contingent historical advantages and accidental influences from the past should not affect an agreement on principles that are to regulate the basic structure from the present into the future. Making the object of agreement the first principles of justice for the basic structure. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP11

12. The Original Position - 4 The original position is also more abstract: agreement must be regarded as hypothetical and nonhistorical. Hypothetical: we ask what the parties could (or would) agree to, not what they have agreed to. Nonhistorical: we do not suppose the agreement has ever, or indeed ever could actually be entered into. And even if it could, that would make no difference. (Principles to be agreed to by parties has to be done by analysis based on alternatives open to them, on what parties count as reason and the information available to them…) 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP12

13. The Original Position - 5 A criticism: Being hypothetical it will not be binding, and hence, of no significance. It is a devise of representation, a thought experiment for the purpose of public and self-clarification. It can model two things. First, it models what we regard … as fair conditions under which representatives, viewed solely as free and equal citizens, are to agree to the fair terms of cooperation whereby the basic structure is to be regulated. Second, it models what we regard … as acceptable restrictions on the reasons on the basis of which the parties, …, may properly put forward certain principles of justice and reject others.… 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP13

14. Free and Equal Persons Persons have two moral powers: Capacity for a sense of justice: the capacity to understand, to apply, and to act from (and not merely in accordance with) the principles of political justice that specify the fair terms of social cooperation. Capacity for a conception of the good: the capacity to have, to revise, and rationally to pursue a conception of the good. … Family of final ends, what is of value in human life or regarded as a fully worthwhile life. They have requisite capacities not only to engage in mutually beneficial social cooperation over a complete life but also to be moved to honor its fair terms for their own sake. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP14

15. Relation between Fundamental Ideas We want a fair system of cooperation. Once this is realized we get a well ordered society. The idea of the fair system of cooperation is applicable to the basic structure. Fair terms of cooperation is specified by parties in an original position (under a veil of ignorance). The persons engaged in cooperation are to be regarded as fair and equal citizens. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP15

16. Two Principles of Justice Each person has the same indefeasible claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme of liberties for all; and Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: –first, they are to be attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and –second, they are to be the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society (the difference principle) 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP16

17. References John Rawls (1971) A Theory of Justice, The Belknap Press; its revised edition Harvard University Press (1999) John Rawls (2000) Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, especially sections 1-8 & 13.1. 13, 18 and 20 Jan 2012HDP17