Justice as Fairness

John Rawls in his book Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001) characterizes how idealized reasoners, reason in order to validate the two “principles of justice” (42) in a “basic structure” (10) leading to a “well-ordered society” (8). The idealized reasoners do some kind of calculation. With the “original position” (14) and the “veil of ignorance” (15) idealized reasoners can understand the “difference principle” (61). This is an important element of creating a well-ordered society. Mills finds issue with how Rawls uses this ideal as something we should follow. The issue is with something that we have to comply with. The ideal comes into play with Rawls in regards the person who does the calculations with the original position. In this paper,…

Secondly, the protection of innocent is guaranteed through the justice system in Canada. One of the fundamental principles of the justice system (section 11) is “to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to the law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.” So, when a person is arrested or taken into custody, the person is not necessarily guilty, until the court can prove it with strong evidence. In the first place, the innocent are treated fairly is…

Introduction: John Rawls, within his novel “Justice as Fairness”, presents the concept of ideal theory, one that will come to be contested by many scholars throughout history. Ideal theory is the ultimate state of what a society should strive for. These principles are formulated using an idealized reasoner, someone who can step back and ratify the injustices of society. Charles Mills, a twentieth-century philosopher, criticizes the claims Rawls makes under the rubric of ideal theory. Charles…

Jurors watch a trial, and focus on which side is more truthful, to determine whether they should vote for a verdict. Jurors believe witness testimony is important. Therefore, witnesses could cause you to win or lose a case, because jurors evaluate witness testimony and whether the witness is honest. When jurors trust an expert witness or an eye witness, his side is likely to win the case. Cross-examining an expert witness or an eye witness who has proved himself honest is a risky endeavor,…

In our text reading, my primary ethical principle would be the principle of Justice as Fairness (Kinicki, 2013). As Kinicki states, Justice as Fairness is “A principle that aims to protect those least able to protect themselves” (Kinicki, 2013, p. 93). In terms of advancing up the career ladder, I believe that the pros to this approach would be consistency and reliability. With Justice and Fairness, my professional colleagues, including those watching my work for possible advancement, would…

“Justice means giving people what they deserve.” This is an interesting idea that has debated for much of human history, dating as far back as to great thinkers such as Aristotle. We may now ask, how would two modern, influential, political theorists respond to this notion? John Rawls’ “Justice as Fairness” and Robert Nozick’s “Anarchy, State, and Utopia” present theories that we can use to determine and make assumptions as to how these two figures would respond. John Rawls’, “Justice as…

Communities and neighborhoods would be very close knit, doing many things together. The ideas and beliefs would relate to the four traits my society is based on, trust, honestly, respect, and happiness. There are also several ethical principles that would be followed, and those would be the Common Good Approach, and the Fairness and Justice Approach, which were touched on earlier in this paper. Another ethical principle that shapes the communities in my ethical world is the Community Approach…

Blacks have been pushed to the side and not treated the same as whites for generations. Fairness and justice were not given to blacks in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird(TKAM) by Harper Lee. The novel begins in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s right in the middle of the civil rights movement. Whites did not listen to what blacks had to say often and would much rather take a white man 's word than a black man 's word. The narrator of the story was a little girl named Scout, and she was growing up…

Through the many philosophers and theories, I will be examining a specific moral theory, theory of justice, and question the idea on civil disobedience. The moral theory of utilitarianism and how it reflects on John Rawl’s “justice of fairness” with the help of his veil of ignorance experiment will be the main discussion topic. I will be arguing and stating my thoughts towards Rawl’s justice of fairness and the civil disobedience and how it shows weakness’s and strengths, but that I am also for…

Education for all allows the whole of society to accept and understand specific expectations to live by. They would be taught about the structure of government, and the role the institution plays in supporting citizen’s natural born rights and their wants. By having education be openly mandatory, it would eliminate racial prejudice, therefore abolishing minority groups. John Rawl’s theory of the veil of ignorance in Justice as Fairness, supports the elimination of sexist, racial and economic…