John Rawls
Justice is what we would agree to without knowing our place in society – inequalities are fair only if they help the worst off.
Placement
Justice as fairness: the principles we would choose behind the veil of ignorance.
Key ideas
- Veil of ignorance
- Difference principle
- Reflective equilibrium
Students: Thomas Nagel, Ifeanyi Menkiti, Onora O’Neill, Christine Korsgaard, Elizabeth Anderson
Influence
Influenced by 7
John Locke
influenced by ✓
Rawls sought to carry the social contract of Locke, Rousseau and Kant ‘to a higher level of abstraction’ in the original position (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971); Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, ed. S. Freeman (2007)
John Locke › 1632–1704
David Hume
influenced by
Rawls took the circumstances of justice – moderate scarcity and limited altruism – from Hume as the conditions under which justice is needed (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971); D. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature III (1740); An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
Evidence: AI draft
David Hume › 1711–1776
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
influenced by
Rawls placed justice as fairness in Rousseau’s contract tradition and read the general will as citizens’ shared reasoning about the common good (lectures, publ. 2007). J. Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, ed. S. Freeman (2007); A Theory of Justice (1971); SEP “John Rawls”
Evidence: AI draft
Jean-Jacques Rousseau › 1712–1778
Immanuel Kant
influenced by ✓
Rawls read the original position of justice as fairness as a procedural expression of Kant’s autonomy (A Theory of Justice, 1971; ‘Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory’, 1980). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971); “Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory”, Journal of Philosophy 77 (1980); SEP “John Rawls”
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Karl Marx
influenced by
Rawls took up Marx’s objection that liberal rights are merely formal, answering with the fair value of political liberties and property-owning democracy (Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, 2001). J. Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001), § 52; Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy (2007), lectures on Marx
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Karl Marx › 1818–1883
Isaiah Berlin
influenced by
Rawls attended Berlin’s seminars in Oxford (1952–53) and later adopted his view that no social world can realise all values without loss (Political Liberalism, 1993). J. Rawls, Political Liberalism (1993); I. Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty” (1958); T. Pogge, John Rawls: His Life and Theory of Justice (2007)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Isaiah Berlin › 1909–1997
Martin Luther King Jr.
influenced by
Rawls held that King’s religiously grounded appeals accorded with public reason because they supported constitutional values (‘The Idea of Public Reason Revisited’, 1997). J. Rawls, “The Idea of Public Reason Revisited”, University of Chicago Law Review 64 (1997); Political Liberalism (1993)
Evidence: AI draft
Martin Luther King Jr. › 1929–1968
Influenced 5
Thomas Nagel taught
taught
Nagel took his PhD at Harvard in 1963 under Rawls with a dissertation on altruism, the theme of his The Possibility of Altruism (1970). Mathematics Genealogy Project, entry T. Nagel (Harvard 1963)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Thomas Nagel › b. 1937
Ifeanyi Menkiti taught
taught
Menkiti studied with Rawls at Harvard, who supervised his dissertation (PhD 1974), a study of collective responsibility. Wellesley College, obituary of I. A. Menkiti (2019)
Evidence: AI draft
Ifeanyi Menkiti › 1940–2019
Christine Korsgaard taught
taught
Korsgaard took her PhD at Harvard in 1981 under Rawls with The Standpoint of Practical Reason (printed 1990). C. M. Korsgaard, The Standpoint of Practical Reason (diss. Harvard 1981; printed 1990); Mathematics Genealogy Project, entry J. Rawls
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Christine Korsgaard › b. 1952
Elizabeth Anderson taught
taught
Anderson took her PhD at Harvard in 1987 under Rawls with a dissertation on value in ethics and in economics, which became Value in Ethics and Economics (1993). Mathematics Genealogy Project, entry E. S. Anderson (Harvard 1987); E. Anderson, Value in Ethics and Economics (1993)
Evidence: AI draft
Elizabeth Anderson › b. 1959
Rainer Forst
influenced
Forst, who worked with Rawls at Harvard, drew on Rawls’s political liberalism in his reconstruction of the debate between liberals and communitarians (Kontexte der Gerechtigkeit, 1994). R. Forst, Kontexte der Gerechtigkeit. Politische Philosophie jenseits von Liberalismus und Kommunitarismus (1994); J. Rawls, Political Liberalism (1993)
Evidence: AI draft
Rainer Forst › b. 1964
Criticism
Mutual critique 1
Jürgen Habermas ⇄ mutual
criticised
Replying to Habermas, Rawls argued that his own liberalism is freestanding and political, whereas Habermas’s discourse theory is a comprehensive doctrine (‘Political Liberalism: Reply to Habermas’, 1995). J. Rawls, “Political Liberalism: Reply to Habermas”, Journal of Philosophy 92 (1995), 132–180; J. Habermas, “Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason”, ibid., 109–131
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Habermas questioned whether Rawls’s original position and overlapping consensus can secure the validity, not merely acceptance, of principles of justice (‘Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason’, 1995). J. Habermas, “Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason: Remarks on John Rawls’s Political Liberalism”, Journal of Philosophy 92 (1995); J. Rawls, “Reply to Habermas”, ibid.
Evidence: AI draft
Jürgen Habermas › 1929–2026
Criticized by 8
Alasdair MacIntyre
criticised by
MacIntyre objected that Rawls treats individuals as prior to community and excludes desert, which only a shared conception of the good could ground (After Virtue, 1981, ch. 17). A. MacIntyre, After Virtue (1981), ch. 17
Evidence: AI draft
Alasdair MacIntyre › 1929–2025
Amartya Sen influenced
influenced
Sen dedicated The Idea of Justice (2009) to Rawls’s memory and kept his demand for impartial public reasoning, while shifting from ideal institutions to comparisons of real lives. A. Sen, The Idea of Justice (2009); J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised by
Sen objected that Rawls’s primary goods ignore how people differ in converting resources into capabilities (‘Equality of What?’, 1979; The Idea of Justice, 2009). A. Sen, “Equality of What?”, Tanner Lecture (1979); The Idea of Justice (2009)
Evidence: AI draft
Amartya Sen › b. 1933
Robert Nozick
criticised by
Nozick objected that Rawls’s patterned principles can be upheld only by continual interference with free transactions, as the Wilt Chamberlain case shows (Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 1974). R. Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), ch. 7
Evidence: AI draft
Robert Nozick › 1938–2002
Onora O’Neill taught
taught
O’Neill took her PhD at Harvard in 1969 under Rawls with a dissertation on Kant’s ethics, printed under the name Onora Nell as Acting on Principle (1975). O. Nell (O’Neill), Acting on Principle: An Essay on Kantian Ethics (1975); Mathematics Genealogy Project, entry J. Rawls
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
O’Neill criticised Rawls for restricting justice to a single bounded society and for idealising assumptions that abstract from real agents’ vulnerability (Towards Justice and Virtue, 1996). O. O’Neill, Towards Justice and Virtue (1996); Bounds of Justice (2000)
Evidence: AI draft
Onora O’Neill › b. 1941
Martha Nussbaum influenced
influenced
Nussbaum adopted Rawls’s political liberalism, presenting her list of central capabilities as the possible object of an overlapping consensus (Women and Human Development, 2000). M. C. Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach (2000); J. Rawls, Political Liberalism (1993)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised by
Nussbaum argued that Rawls’s social contract cannot do justice to people with disabilities, citizens of other nations or animals, and proposed capabilities instead (Frontiers of Justice, 2006). M. C. Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (2006)
Evidence: AI draft
Martha Nussbaum › b. 1947
Iris Marion Young
criticised by
Young argued that the ‘distributive paradigm’ dominant since Rawls misses institutional structures of oppression and domination (Justice and the Politics of Difference, 1990, ch. 1). I. M. Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990), ch. 1
Evidence: AI draft
Iris Marion Young › 1949–2006
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Charles W. Mills
criticised by
Mills objected that Rawls’s ideal theory, assuming a well-ordered society, has little to say about racial injustice and its correction (Black Rights/White Wrongs, 2017). C. W. Mills, “‘Ideal Theory’ as Ideology”, Hypatia 20 (2005); “Rawls on Race/Race in Rawls”, Southern Journal of Philosophy 47 (2009); Black Rights/White Wrongs (2017)
Evidence: AI draft
Charles W. Mills › 1951–2021
Michael Sandel
criticised by
Sandel argued that Rawls presupposes an ‘unencumbered self’ choosing its ends prior to attachments, which cannot account for community (Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, 1982). M. J. Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982; 2nd ed. 1998)
Evidence: AI draft
Michael Sandel › b. 1953
Criticizes 3
Jeremy Bentham
criticised
Rawls objected that Bentham’s classical utilitarianism applies one person’s principle of choice to society and ‘does not take seriously the distinction between persons’ (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971), §§ 5–6, 30
Evidence: AI draft
Jeremy Bentham › 1748–1832
John Stuart Mill
criticised
Rawls objected that Mill’s utilitarian defence of liberty makes liberties hostage to uncertain calculations; justice as fairness gives them priority (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971), § 33; Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy (2007), lectures on Mill
Evidence: AI draft
John Stuart Mill › 1806–1873
Henry Sidgwick influenced by
influenced by
Rawls modelled his comparison of moral conceptions on Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics (A Theory of Justice, 1971) and wrote a foreword to its 1981 reissue. J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971); foreword to H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed. (1981)
Evidence: AI draft
criticised
Rawls took Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics as the classic statement of utilitarianism, whose impartial sympathetic spectator merges all persons into one (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971), §§ 5, 30; foreword to H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed. (1981)
Evidence: AI draft
Henry Sidgwick › 1838–1900
Works
Justice as fairness – the original position and the veil of ignorance.
Overlapping consensus in pluralistic societies.
Position
Rawls is widely credited with reviving political philosophy in the English-speaking world; he offered an alternative to utilitarianism, which in his view can sacrifice the individual to the greatest sum of welfare. Just principles, he argued, are those that free and equal persons would choose in an “original position” behind a “veil of ignorance” – not knowing their class, talents or conception of the good. They would choose, first, equal basic liberties for all; second, that social and economic inequalities are acceptable only if they are attached to positions open to all under fair equality of opportunity and if they benefit the least advantaged (the “difference principle”). The first principle takes priority over the second, and fair equality of opportunity over the difference principle. Rawls called this “justice as fairness.” In Political Liberalism he asked how a society deeply divided by religion and world views can be stable through an “overlapping consensus.”
Life & context
Rawls was born in Baltimore in 1921, studied at Princeton and served as an infantryman in the Pacific during the Second World War, an experience that led him to abandon his Christian faith. After a year at Oxford he taught at Cornell and MIT and from 1962 at Harvard. He worked for nearly two decades on his main work, published in 1971.
Further main works
- The Law of Peoples (1999)
- Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001)
Appears in
- Journey ‘What Is Just?’ · Stop 7 of 10
- Debate ‘Justice and Equality’
- Debate ‘Do We Deserve Our Success? Meritocracy’
- Debate ‘A Right to Die? Assisted Dying’
As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made