John Rawls Justice as Fairness a Restatement

John Rawls reworks the theses contained in his previous works with Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Rawls' political philosophy is a modern formulation, presupposing a democratic foundation, which seeks to define justice as a purely political concept. Because Rawls' previous work, A Theory of Justice, still contained moral arguments, the author here attempts to divest the concept of justice as fairness from its moral underpinnings. Therefore, with Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, Rawls reformulates the basic theories contained within his former works in order to distinguish the political from the moral or philosophical spheres. Justice as Fairness contains elements found in the theories of political philosophers like Locke, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, and Marx and the book is a compilation of his political philosophy lectures at Harvard in the 1980s. Rawls systematically analyses the idea of justice as a primarily political concept. He then applies this concept to a workable theory of justice as fairness based on a democratic society. Justice as Fairness fulfills the roles of political philosophy that Rawls himself sets forth in Part 1. Political philosophy fosters cooperation by creating a common ground amid conflict; it orients the individual within a specific time and place; it reconciles conflict because it accepts, and affirms the rationality of democratic institutions; and political philosophy is "realistically utopian," because it allows for "reasonable pluralism," (p. 4). The concept of justice as fairness, as set out by Rawls in his book, is a reasonable, practical, and idealistic political philosophy that not only accepts but encourages reasonable pluralism.

Among Rawls' fundamental ideas is the concept of the basic structure upon which a democratic society is based. The basic structure is a cooperative, collective underpinning of a democratic society. As such, it is informed and rational, applicable to all citizens. Citizens of a just society are both free and equal, not judged on the basis of their gender, ethnicity, race, history, or economic class. The key to a fair, just, cooperative society is basically a social contract. This contract, like any other contract, is a mutual agreement between parties. Its aim is the common good, regardless of any differences or dissention between parties. Because pluralism is an inescapable and welcome facet of a democratic society, disagreement and dissention are inevitable. What justice as fairness offers is a common theoretical framework from which to find common ground. Because of pluralism, there will be no universal set of values; thus, justice as fairness must not be a moral philosophy if it is to be effective at the political level.

If there are to be no "unfair bargaining advantages" in formulating a cooperative political agreement, a "veil of ignorance" must be established by both parties (p. 15). Rawls posits that there exists an "original position" from which participating parties can approach the bargaining table. When it comes to establishing a society based on the principles of democracy and on justice as fairness, the original position maintains equality. True equality cannot exist if the involved persons take into consideration such factors as race, sex, historical background, ethnicity, or any other potential source of bias. The original position is a prerequisite for political justice. The concept of the original position builds upon the common conception of contract and extends that conception to encompass political philosophies of justice and fairness. In the political arena, the object of collective agreement is not a particular form of government, however. Instead, the social contract entails justice as it applies to the basic structure only. Rawls asserts that justice as fairness need not apply to specific institutions within the basic structure, because that would undermine reasonable pluralism. Specific institutions that operate within the basic structure of a democracy, especially those that are based in moral or religious philosophy, are contained within the larger rubric of the social contract. This is the social contract of justice as fairness that Rawls sets forth as a viable political philosophy.

Justice as fairness as a political philosophy is therefore completely abstract and hypothetical. It is an ideal to which persons and political bodies aspire and which these parties base political decisions. Justice as fairness allows parties with differing opinions, worldviews, and value systems to come to a common consensus. The social contracts posited by Rawls are not concrete because they are philosophical; however, they are applicable to practical matters because of the saliency of political philosophy in daily and mundane affairs.