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John Rawls

Leif Wenar · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · 2025

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Type: Web page
Author: Leif Wenar
Accessed: 2026-09-01

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EstablishedRawls first set out justice as fairness systematically in A Theory of Justice (1971) and restated it in Political Liberalism (1993), The Law of Peoples (1999) and Justice as Fairness (2001).TheoryRawls argued that parties in the original position, behind a veil of ignorance, would choose equal basic liberties with priority, fair equality of opportunity, and inequalities arranged to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged.TheoryRawls held that justice as fairness favours a property-owning democracy or liberal (democratic) socialism, and rejects welfare-state capitalism, laissez-faire capitalism and a socialist command economy.