The hypothetical agreement is contested
Critics question whether real obligations can be generated by what idealised representatives would choose.
Contemporary philosophy · 1921–2002
John Rawls
Rawls asks which principles people would choose for society if nobody could tailor the rules to their own social advantage.
John Rawls was an American political philosopher whose account of justice as fairness reshaped twentieth-century political thought. A Theory of Justice asks which principles free and equal citizens would choose under fair conditions.
JusticeEthics
The question he enters
The question John Rawls enters
What rules would you accept if you did not know where in society you would land?
The central move
Remove the information that invites rigging
The original position is a device for thinking about fairness. Behind a veil of ignorance, representatives do not know their class, talents, religion, gender or conception of the good. Rawls argues that this models free and equal persons choosing equal basic liberties and permitting inequalities only under demanding conditions.
Key ideas
Terms that carry the argument.
- Original position
- A hypothetical fair choice situation used to model agreement on principles of justice.
- Veil of ignorance
- The restriction preventing choosers from knowing which social advantages or disadvantages will be theirs.
- Equal basic liberties
- A priority set of political and civil freedoms secured equally for each person.
- Difference principle
- Social and economic inequalities must work to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, alongside fair opportunity.
Where the view strains
Objections and limits.
The starting distribution disappears
Entitlement theorists argue that justice concerns how holdings arose, not whether a final pattern benefits the least advantaged.
Sources and routes
Read the work. Follow the argument.
Primary texts
Where to meet the position.
- Harvard University PressA Theory of JusticeWebThe original position, two principles and justice as fairness.Revised edition, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674000780. · Publisher edition record and purchase route; no open full text is represented. Checked Aug 2026.
- Open LibraryPolitical LiberalismWebHow citizens with conflicting comprehensive doctrines might share a political conception of justice.Work-level library catalogue record for Political liberalism; select a listed edition on the record. · Bibliographic record with edition, library-location, borrowing or preview links where available; this row is bibliographic or sample-only unless the selected edition states otherwise. Checked Aug 2026.
- Open LibraryThe Law of PeoplesWebAn extension of political liberalism to international relations.Work-level library catalogue record for The law of peoples; select a listed edition on the record. · Bibliographic record with edition, library-location, borrowing or preview links where available; this row is bibliographic or sample-only unless the selected edition states otherwise. Checked Aug 2026.
On this site
Continue in a usable resource.
InjusticeRelevantUnit · Institutions, opportunity and the position of the least advantaged.Does fairness mean equality or equity?RelevantInquiry · Fair terms of cooperation do not require every distribution to be identical.No Good OptionsRelevantGame · See when protecting the worst off governs your public decisions.The Last SeatRelevantGame · Test allocation under scarcity and incomplete information.