Original Position Essay

In the United States, public policy is shaped by multiple factors, from average citizens voices in elections to interest groups and organizations. In their study, “Testing theories of American politics”, scholars Benjamin Page and Martin Gilens explore the impact of average citizens, the economic elite and interest groups have on the passage of public policy. Additionally through their, Page and Gilens(2014) have found “that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence” (Pg 535). This means that when it comes to the creation of public policies, rich people and groups

The in class Rawls assignment focused on justice, and the fairness of how people are treated throughout society. The class, after being broken down into groups, tackled the subjects of why people disagree about what is right, and what is not, and how morals and ethics guides a person’s interest as to what is fair and what is just. As with many things in life, there are two sides to every story. There are people that accentuate the outcome, and those that accentuate the process. Those that put emphasis on the outcome, more than likely see inequality as unjustifiable. However, when the process is emphasized, although the system may seem unequal, it provides everyone with a fair chance.

Rawls’ attempt to define justice as fairness within the confines of the original position in A Theory of Justice establishes a deontological ethic. Rawls’ theory prioritizes individual liberty with equality to illustrate the deficiencies of utilitarianism. Despite criticism from Sandel, Rawls’ justice as fairness theory adequately defends a redistributive system for the entire society while addressing the inequality of luck.

ABSTRACT. Adapting the traditional social contract approach of earlier years to a more contemporary use, John Rawls initiated an unparaleled revitalization of social philosophy. Instead of arguing for the justification of civil authority or the form that it should take, Professor Rawls is more interested in the principles that actuate basic social institutions —he presupposes authority and instead focuses on its animation. In short, Rawls argues that “justice as fairness” should be that basic animating principle.

John Rawls is an American philosopher who was born in 1921 and died in the year 2002. In His books, Theory of Justice and Justice and fairness published in 1971 and 1958 respectively, Rawls is noted for being a social contract theorist in that he believes that our

John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice holds that rational, mutually disinterested individuals, in the Original Position and given the task of establishing societal rules to maximise their own happiness throughout life, are liable to choose as principles of societal justice a) guaranteed fundamental liberties and b) the nullification of social and economic disparities by universal equality of opportunities, which are to be of greatest benefit to the least advantaged members of society , . Rawls’ system of societal cbfgdbre for the maintenance of fundamental liberties, equality of opportunity and support for the disadvantaged is exercised. However, when the individual runs the risk of incafdfbsfgrnating into an elitist society, they may be

John Rawls was a man who played an influential role in shaping political thought in the late 20th century. Rawls is accredited for writing two major contributions that has helped influence political ideology of those even today. His first piece was published in 1971, A Theory of Justice, which argues his belief of justice on the domestic level and also that reconciliation between liberty and equality must occur in order to have a just society . Rawls’s belief of what justice should be is extremely controversial, and helped put Rawls on the map. Later, after Rawls gained a reliable reputation he published another piece called, Law of the Peoples, which was his application of justice towards international affairs and what he believes

If pressed for the most simplistic one-sentence answer to how I viewed my understanding of this work I would not hesitate to exclaim, “The most conclusive qualitative argument for ‘justice as fairness’”. Notwithstanding, this simplistic review needs to be supported in a way that encourages others, who are inclined, to relish the challenge of critical discourse on the imperative questions of political philosophy raised by John Rawls.

We begin with John Rawls’s conception of justice. He has two principles of justice; they are the principle of basic liberties, the second principle has two parts: the principle of fair equality of opportunity and the difference principle. According to Cohen (2003), the principle of basic liberty says that each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive system of liberties of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of

John Rawls was born on 21st February, 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was practicing laugher and his mother was the President of the new League of women voters in Baltimore. Rawls graduated from the Princeton University majoring in philosophy. Upon graduating from Princeton University, Rawls joined the US army and when his troops visited the remains of Hiroshima, if profound effect on him. Later, he joined the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, as assistant Professor of Philosophy. In 1962, he was given Professorship at Harvard where he published his ‘Theory of Justice’ in 1971 and was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Ralph Waldo Emerson prize in 1972. He retired in 1991 but continued teaching political philosophy till 1995.

In A Theory of Justice John Rawls presents his argument for justice and inequality. Rawls theorizes that in the original position, a hypothetical state where people reason without bias, they would agree to live in a society based on two principles of justice (Rawls 1971, 4). These two principles of justice are named the first and second principles. The first is the equal rights and liberties principle. The second is a combination of the difference principle and the fair equality of opportunity principle, or FEOP (Rawls 1971, 53). Rawls argues that inequality will always be inevitable in any society (Rawls 1971, 7). For example, there will always be a varied distribution of social and economic advantages. Some people will be wealthier than

In this paper we will look at the original position as a constructive procedure for recognizing the principles of justice, and I will defend such a procedure from the arguments made by G.A. Cohen in Rescuing Justice and Equality. Rawls’s constructivism is characterized by the use of the concept of the original position. Rawls is a constructivist in the sense that the principles of justice are products of a choice made in the original position. The procedure for making the decision of which principles are to obtain is central in Rawls’s account – the substance of these procedures are therefore, according to Rawls, determined neither by human psychology nor a system of conceiving-independent values. The basis for such principles are constructed by equal and free persons under fair conditions, and so is referred to as “justice as fairness” (Theory of Justice 11).

John Rawls' "A Theory of Justice" has long been revered as a marvel of modern political philosophy. It's most well-known for the two principles of justice outlined by Rawls: (1) that all persons have an equal right to liberty; and (2) that (a) all inequalities in society should be arranged to benefit the least advantages, and (b) that all positions and offices should be open and accessible as outlined by fair equality of opportunity. Rawls' conception of society, as a "co-operative venture for mutual gain", forms the basis for both principles, and he is at all times concerned with creating a stable concept of fair and just society. Rawls' second principle, dealing with distributive justice and equality

John Rawls states that the principle of fairness is important as it applies to individuals the principle of fairness are a link between the two principles of social or political justice and individual obligations to comply with specific social practices (Pogge, 2007). By expanding the scope of what one considers to be an ‘end’ to include both aspects of nature as well as future generations, one can transform the implications of Rawls’ theory (Pogge, 2007). Rawls advances his theory of justice through what is called the Original Position which is a hypothetical situation in which all individuals are granted perfect equality and are asked to choose a principle of justice behind a veil of ignorance, which eliminates their biases (Pogge, 2007). The hypothetical persons in the Original Position, ignorant of who and what they will be in society and perfectly equal to one another, are able to truly come to a consensus as to what a just society would be (Pogge, 2007). Justice

John Rawls was known by many as one of the greatest American political philosophers of the twentieth century. He is well known for his published work called the Theory of Justice. In this book, he tried to explain the political structures that are designed by society for its citizens. He considered his theory as a guide to preserving social justice and individual liberty. In this essay, I will explain Rawls philosophy on the principles of justice, the veil of ignorance and provide my criticisms to his theories.