Essay on John Rawls “Original Position” - 1137 Words

The general concept of Rawls â€Å"original position† is that all social â€Å"Primary Good† should be distributed equally to individuals in a society, unless an unequal distribution favors those less fortunate. Rawls call â€Å"the situation of ignorance about your own place in society the â€Å"original position (242).† Rawls’ theory is in direct response to John Lock’s principles on social contract which states that people in a free society need to set rules on how to live with one another in peace. Rawls’ principles were designed to guards against injustices, which was inflicted upon society, with the help of John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism principle that individuals should act so as to maximize the greatest good for the greatest number. Mills†¦show more content†¦In the priority rules, Rawls escapes the possibility of self-contradiction by acknowledging that there will be situations when his two principles will be at odds with each other. He then suggests the following priorities: 1) under the Priority of Liberty; the principles of justice are to be ranked in lexical order (244); a) a less extensive liberty must be shared by all and; b) a less than equal liberty must be acceptable to those with the lesser liberty; 2) the second principle of justice is lexically before the principle of efficiency and to that of maximizing the sum of advantages; and fair opportunity is before the difference principle. There are two cases: a) and inequality of opportunity must enhance the opportunity of those with the lesser opportunity; and b) an excessive rate of saving must on balance in order to lessen the burden of those bearing this hardship. On the subject of efficiency Rawls states: 1) no system can be called efficient if there is an alternative arrangement that improves the situation of some people with no worsening of the situation of any of the other people and; 2) the system of justice must be brought for th in order toShow MoreRelatedJohn Rawls s Theory Of Justice1471 Words   |  6 PagesJohn Rawls â€Å"A Theory of Justice.† John Rawls was an American political and moral philosopher. Rawls attempts to determine the principles of social justice. In this essay, I will elucidate John Rawls’ views on forming a social contract, the counter-arguments against Rawls’ theory and finally the state of debate on the counter-arguments. John Rawls set out on his discussion on justice and fairness in his book A Theory of Justice 1971. Rawls theory describes a society with free citizens holding equalRead MoreRawls Justice As Fairness1602 Words   |  7 PagesRawls’ Justice as Fairness: John Rawls was dissatisfied with the traditional philosophical approach to justifying social and political actions therefore he attempted to provide a reasonable theory of social justice through a contract theory approach. 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