John Rawls

John Rawls , born the February 21st 1921 with Baltimore and deceased the November 24th 2002 with Lewiston, was a Philosophe American Libéral .

He was professor in the universities of Princeton, Oxford, Cornell and Harvard until in 1995 and is one of the philosophical policies studied 20th century. Its book published under the title has Theory off Justice ( Théorie of justice ) in 1971 and to which he worked since the years 1960 revealed it.

When Rawls works out its theory, the legitimacy of the east United States called into question, the Guerre of Vietnam prevails and the fight for the Civic right beats full sound. It is thus in a moment of doubt that its theory of justice is born, this one is regarded since then in the Anglo-Saxon world as the most important text of political Philosophie. The work of Rawls will center on the concepts of ethical, Justice and Libéralisme.

Biography

John Borden (Bordley) Rawls was born in a rich family from Baltimore, Maryland. He is the second of the five children of William Lee Rawls and Anna Abell Stump. He enters in 1939 to the University of Princeton, where he starts to be interested in philosophy, but has to be useful in the American army (infantry) in the Pacific and in New Guinea at the time of the Second world war. In Japan it was pilot damage caused by the bends with Hiroshima. After this experiment, it gives up becoming officer and free the army. It turns over to Princeton in 1946 and finishes its doctorate of moral philosophy in 1949, where it taught until in 1952, year as from which it was influenced by the ideas of the theorist of the liberal policy and historian of the ideas Isaiah Berlin, of the Université of Oxford. It Marie in the same year with Margaret Fox, graduate of the University of Brown. They spent their first summer to together share an shared interest, that to index the books, they then indexed the vocabulary of Nietzsche, for one of its books; Rawls created itself the index of its book: Theory of justice . After Oxford, it turns over to the the United States, and starts to be assistant then professor associated with the Université Cornell. He teaches then with the Massachusetts Institute off Technology (MIT). In 1964, he becomes professor with Harvard, and remained it during almost forty years.

As of 1995, it makes some heart attacks, which penalized it hard in its work of writing. Nevertheless it completed its book The Law off people , in which it exposes its judgment on international justice.

John Rawls died in 2002 at the 81 years age.

Philosophy

The utilitarian philosopher

Before becoming celebrates it theorist of justice deontologist, John Rawls was utilitarian. In its article Two concepts off rule , it defends an original version of the utilitarianism of the rule.

According to Francisco Vergara however, John Rawls, strongly influenced by the vocabulary and certain forms of reasoning resulting from certain economic theories, the Utilitarisme did not include/understand, and the theory that Rawls will criticize later under the name of utilitarianism should not in no case to be called thus.

Liberal theorist of justice

Located at left of the American political chessboard, after the publication of its work Théorie of justice Rawls very quickly becomes nevertheless a reading impossible to circumvent in the teaching of moral and social philosophy.

Its theory of justice states that in a State perfectly right, it must be indifferent to be born with such characteristics rather than such others . It rests on two principles:

the principle of liberty , i.e. an equal right for all as long as this one does not prevent the freedom of others from being carried out

“Each person is entitled to a fully adequate system of equal basic freedoms for all, compatible with the same system of freedom for all; and in this system, the right value of freedoms, and these only must be guaranteed. ”

the principle of difference , which admits right inequalities

“the social inequalities and economic must satisfy two conditions:

- they must be related to functions and positions open to all, under conditions of equitable equality of the chances;

- they must get the greatest benefit with the most handicapped members company. ”

The second principle is related to the equal opportunity : this one must allow everyone, with equal capacities, the same access to the various functions of the company. Rawls is not limited to the liberal vision of the equality: if it is not right to be born in such or such social category, it is not right to be born either with a weak intelligence quotient. One thus should not only take into account the social factors , but also the natural factors .

The inequalities could be justified only if the company draws itself from it a greater advantage. A talented person will thus have right legitimately to the incomes higher than its talent is worth to him if the community also benefits from it (what it will do for example by the tax).

This principle of difference indicates that it is necessary to ensure this equal opportunity by removing all the inequalities not, but just those disadvantaging certain people. Rawls takes again the principle of the Déclaration of the human rights and the citizen of 1789 estimating that distinctions are acceptable where they are justified by the common utility (thus of the emergency vehicles with the dipped headlights).

Political liberalism

Rawls was then devoted on the question of the possible stability (or not) of companies divided between the two designs of justice. It thus develops the idea of a " consensus général" , that is to say an implicit agreement between citizens on a justice " équitable" between various citizens who have philosophical sights (or nuns) different. It introduces the concept of " thus; Publique" reason; , that is to say a reason " commune" with all the citizens.

The political design of the justice which Rawls in develops political liberalism watch that individuals with conflict opinions, but reasonable and reconcilable by compromise, agree to control the basic structures of the company. Thus, the political design of justice would be anything else only one consensus.

Rawls modifies also the principles of justice in the following way (the first taking precedence over the second)

a) each person can call upon the possession of an adequate whole of rights and fundamental freedoms, which are the same ones for all. And in this unit, only political freedoms are guaranteed in way general.

b) The economic and social inequalities must meet two conditions to be acceptable; initially, they should not prevent equalizes it social mobility appropriateness. Then, they must be done for the greatest benefit of the whole of the company.

It confirms and supplements thus its liberal theory of justice.

Quotations

“ freedom can be limited only in the name of freedom. ”

Quotation of the Theory of justice of John Rawls, § 46.

According to J. Rawls, it rises from this principle which a restriction of freedom is justified in two cases only:

if it makes it possible to reinforce the total system of freedoms divided by all: “if freedom is less wide, the representative citizen must in the final analysis find there a profit for his freedom” (§ 39);
if an inequality of freedoms is acceptable for those which have a less freedom: “if freedom is unequal, the freedom of those which have less freedom must be protected better” (§ 39).

For the first case, Rawls mentions the examples of a limitation of the freedom of conscience and thought of manner compatible with the law and order, the limitation of the capacity of the government by the majority, the limitation of freedoms of intolerant and the repression of the violence of the sects competitors.

For the second case, J. Rawls mentions the example of an inequality of civic freedoms: “so some have more voice than others, political freedom is unequal; the same applies if the voices of some weigh much heavier than those of the others, or if part of the company is completely deprived of the right to vote. In many historical situations, a less large political freedom owed, perhaps, being justified”.

See too

Related bonds

External bonds

Philippe Van Parijs, John Rawls, founding father of the political thought contemporary Freehand in Le Monde and Libre Belgique , November 27th, 2002,

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