Justice As Fairness
Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical is an essay by John Rawls, published in 1985. In it he describes his conception of justice. It comprises two main principles of liberty and equality; the second is subdivided into Fair Equality of Opportunity and the Difference Principle.
Rawls arranges the principles in 'lexical priority', prioritising in the order of the Liberty Principle, Fair Equality of Opportunity and the Difference Principle. This order determines the priorities of the principles if they conflict in practice. The principles are, however, intended as a single, comprehensive conception of justice—'Justice as Fairness'—and not to function individually. These principles are always applied so as to ensure that the "least advantaged" are benefitted and not hurt or forgotten.
Rawls presented the theory in the famous A Theory of Justice, subsequently revising it in Political Liberalism.
Read more about Justice As Fairness: The First Principle: The Liberty Principle, The Second Principle: The Equality Principle, The Original Position
Famous quotes containing the words justice and/or fairness:
“If every man possessed everything he wanted, and no one had the power to interfere with such possession; or if no man desired that which could damage his fellow-man, justice would have no part to play in the universe.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“These men ask for just the same thing—fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)