http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~piccard/entropy/rawls.html

A Theory of Justice, by John Rawls

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Tier III 415A Home Page
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A Theory of Justice, by John Rawls, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
This outline of an extended book review is based in large part on notes composed by Darrell Huwe. I have attempted with limited success to understand Rawls' book - please do not regard this as being in any sense an authoritative summary of Rawls' thought. I personally find this book particularly difficult to penetrate, perhaps because my training is in the physical sciences rather than philosophy, and I generalize quite beyond the evidence when I suspect that others also find it less than accessible. I hope that this …ver más…

There are two cases: (a) a less extensive liberty must strengthen the total system of liberty shared by all; (b) a less than equal liberty must be acceptable to those with the lesser liberty.

The Priority of Justice over Efficiency and Welfare

The second principle of justice is lexically prior to the principle of efficiency and to that of maximizing the sum of advantages; and fair opportunity is prior to the difference principle. There are two cases: (a) an inequality of opportunity must enhance the opportunities of those with the lesser opportunity; (b) an excessive rate of saving must on balance mitigate the burden of those bearing this hardship. [pic]

Efficiency

Rawls adopts the concept of efficiency that is associated with the name Pareto in the field of economics. It is perhaps most easily described in the negative: 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. In general, there are many arrangements that are efficient in this sense. Not all of them are equally just; other principles of justice must be invoked to select the most just arrangement. [pic]

The Difference Principle

"The difference principle is a strongly egalitarian conception in the sense that unless there is a distribution that makes both