Summary: First of three entries concerning basic ideas of Justice, (1) John Rawls'* Theory of Justice, (2) Amendments based on work of systems thinker Peter Corning** and thoughts about analyzing systems of justice by sociologist Morton Deutsch***. As regards justice we ask the following question of our world's institutions (where an institution is a public system of rules):
If this were a just world what would we aim to accomplish and how would we go about doing so?In this first of three entries I will start by sharing John Rawls' formulations. (Entry 2 will be Corning's Biosocial Systems Version with Deutsch' questions and thoughts about implementing Distributive Justice systems in the third entry.)
When designing or running a human system or institution, whether a family, a classroom or school, a town, city or nation, decision makers and plain citizens alike must often deal with thoughts and feelings concerning what is right in a particular situation and what system of justice will have individuals being treated rightly under all, or nearly all, forseeable circumstances.
There is serious thought available for those who ask. Liberty and Justice are more complex than absolute freedom and revenge for wrongs done.
Let's start with John Rawls' statement of "the two principles of justice":
The first statement of the two principles reads as follows (Rawls, p 60).First: each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.Second: social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage, and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all.
He expands and explains below
[…] By way of general comment, these principles primarily apply [sigma] to the basic structure of society. They are to govern the assignment of rights and duties and to regulate the distribution of social and economic advantages. As their formulation suggests, these principles presuppose that the social structure can be divided into two more or less distinct parts, the first principle applying to the one, the second to the other. They distinguish between those aspects of the social system that define and secure the equal liberties of citizenship and those that specify and establish social and economic inequalities. The basic liberties of citizens are, roughly speaking, political liberty (the right to vote and to be eligible for public office) together with freedom of speech and assembly; liberty of conscience and freedom of thought; freedom of the person along with the right to hold (personal) property; and freedom from arbitrary arrest and seizure as defined by the concept of the rule of law. These liberties are all required to be equal by the first principle, since citizens of a just society are to have the same basic rights.The second principle applies [sigma] to the distribution of income and wealth and to the design of organizations that make use of differences in authority and responsibility, or chains of command.While the distribution of wealth and income need not be equal it must be to everyone's advantage, and, at the same time, positions of authority and offices of command must be accessible to all. One applies the second principle by holding positions open, and then, subject to this constraint, arranges social and economic equalities so that everyone benefits.
These principles are to be arranged in a serial order with the first principle prior to the second. This ordering means that a departure from the institutions of equal liberty required by the first principle cannot be justified by, or compensated for, by greater social and economic advantages. The distribution of wealth and income, and the hierarchies of authority, must be consistent with both the liberties of equal citizenship and equality of opportunity. (Rawls pp. 60-61)
*Rawls, John (1971) A Theory of Justice , Cambridge: Belknap In "A Theory of Justice", Rawls sets forth the proposition that "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. Therefore, in a just society the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests."
**Corning, Peter (199?) Fair Shares: Beyond Capitalism and Socialism, The Biological Basis of Social Justice ***Deutsch, Morton (1985) Distributive Justice, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Rawls Picture:
Rawls Links:A Rawls Bibliography (up to 1990) An expansion of what is called Rawls' original position in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy A summary of Nozick's criticism (in Anarchy, State and Utopia) of Rawls view of distributive justice.
