The Big List Of John Rawls Quotes

Posted on by Brian Colwell

“There is no antinomy between freedom and reason.” – John Rawls

‘A Theory Of Justice’ By John Rawls

Notes and quotes are gathered from the 1999 revised edition of ‘A Theory Of Justice’, which was originally published in 1971 by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Below, Rawls’ work has been divided into four topics – the “principles of justice”, rules & liberties, on constitutions, on obligations, and the “well-ordered society.” Let’s get to it!

On The “Principles Of Justice”

“… justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others.” – John Rawls

  • The First Principle Of Justice – “Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all.”
  • The Second Principle Of Justice – “Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both”:
    • “To the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, consistent with the just savings principle” and
    • “Attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity.”
  • “… truth and justice are uncompromising.”
  • “Those who hold different conceptions of justice can… still agree that institutions are just when no arbitrary distinctions are made between persons in the assigning of basic rights and duties and when the rules determine a proper balance between competing claims to the advantages of social life.”
  • “… a shared conception of justice establishes the bonds of civic friendship; the general desire for justice limits the pursuit of other ends. One may think of a public conception of justice as constituting the fundamental charter of a well-ordered human association.”
  • “… the basic structure is the primary subject of justice.”
  • “The acceptance of the principles of right and justice forges the bonds of civic friendship and establishes the basis of comity amidst the disparities that persist. Citizens are able to recognize one another’s good faith and desire for justice even though agreement may occasionally break down on constitutional questions and most certainly on many issues of policy.”
  • “However attractive a conception of justice might be on other grounds, it is seriously defective if the principles of moral psychology are such that it fails to engender in human beings the requisite desire to act upon it.”

On Rules & Liberties

“… there is no offense without a law…” – John Rawls

  • “… the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.”
  • “… rules should be set up so that men are led by their predominant interests to act in ways which further socially desirable ends.”
  • “The publicity of the rules of an institution insures that those engaged in it know what limitations on conduct to expect of one another and what kinds of actions are permissible. There is a common basis for determining mutual expectations.”
  • “Liberty is a certain pattern of social forms.”
  • “… any liberty can be explained by a reference to three items: the agents who are free, the restrictions or limitations which they are free from, and what it is that they are free to do or not to do.”
  • “… liberty is a certain structure of institutions, a certain system of public rules defining rights and duties.”
  • “… equal political liberty is not solely a means. These freedoms strengthen men’s sense of their own worth, enlarge their intellectual and moral sensibilities, and lay the basis for a sense of duty and obligation upon which the stability of just institutions depends.”
  • “… basic liberties can be restricted only for the sake of liberty. There are two cases”:
    • “A less extensive liberty must strengthen the total system of liberties shared by all” and
    • “A less than equal liberty must be acceptable to those with the less liberty.”

On Constitutions

“… political justice [is] justice of the constitution…” – John Rawls

  • “Subject to the constraints of the principles of justice already chosen… design a system for the constitutional powers of government and the basic rights of citizens.”
  • “Ideally a just constitution would be a just procedure arranged to insure a just outcome. The procedure would be the political process governed by the constitution, the outcome the body of enacted legislation, while the principles of justice would define an independent criterion for both procedure and outcome.”
  • “… the liberties of equal citizenship must be incorporated into and protected by the constitution. These liberties include those of liberty of conscience and freedom of thought, liberty of the person, and equal political rights.”
  • “… the constitution establishes a secure common status of equal citizenship and realizes political justice.”
  • “… the basic structure [of the constitution] contains the distinctions and hierarchies of political, economic, and social forms which are necessary for efficient and mutually beneficial social cooperation.”
  • “… the constitution is to be a just procedure satisfying the requirements of equal liberty”
  • “… [the constitution] is to be framed so that of all the feasible just arrangements it is the one more likely than any other to result in a just and effective system of legislation.”
  • “… a just constitution sets up a form of fair rivalry for political office and authority.”
  • “… the constitution is the foundation of the social structure, the highest-order system of rules that regulates and controls other institutions.”
  • “A constitution that restricts majority rule by the various traditional devices is thought to lead to a more just body of legislation.”
  • “… a just constitution… secures the liberties of equal citizenship.”

On Obligations

  • “… a person’s obligations and duties presuppose a moral conception of institutions…”
  • “Obligatory ties presuppose just institutions, or ones reasonably just in view of the circumstances.”
  • “There are several characteristic features of obligations which distinguish them from other moral requirements…”
    • “… they arise as a result of our voluntary acts.”
    • “… the content of obligations is always defined by an institution or practice the rules of which specify what it is that one is required to do.”
    • “… obligations are normally owed to definite individuals, namely, those who are cooperating together to maintain the arrangement in question.”
  • “We acquire obligations by promising and by tacit understandings…”

On The “Well-Ordered Society”

“Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.” – John Rawls

  • “… human society is characterized by the circumstances of justice.”
  • “… a society is a more or less self-sufficient association of persons who in their relations to one another recognize certain rules of conduct as binding and who for the most part act in accordance with them… a society is a cooperative venture for mutual advantage… marked by… conflict…”
  • “… a society is well-ordered when it is not only designed to advance the good of its members, but when it is also effectively regulated by a public conception of justice. That is, it is a society in which”:
    • “Everyone accepts and knows that the others accept the same principles of justice”, and
    • “The basic social institutions generally satisfy and are generally known to satisfy these principles.”
  • “In the one we think of a well-ordered society as a scheme of cooperation for reciprocal advantage regulated by principles which persons would choose in an initial situation that is fair, in the other as the efficient administration of social resources to maximize the satisfaction of the system of desire constructed by the impartial spectator from the many individual systems of desires accepted as given.”
  • “… the principles of social justice… provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of society…”
  • “… in a well-ordered society, one effectively regulated by a shared conception of justice, there is also a public understanding as to what is just and unjust.”
  • “… the chief primary goods at the disposition of society are rights, liberties, and opportunities, and income and wealth. These are the social primary goods.”
  • “A society should try to avoid situations where the marginal contributions of those better off are negative, since, other things equal, this seems a greater fault than falling short of the best scheme when these contributions are positive.”
  • “In justice as fairness society is… a public system of rules defining a scheme of activities that leads men to act together so as to produce a greater sum of benefits… The essential thing is that there is an independent standard for deciding which outcome is just and a procedure guaranteed to lead to it.”
  • “… the principles of justice manifest in the basic structure of society men’s desire to treat one another not as means only but as ends in themselves.”
  • “… a complete conception of justice is not only able to assess laws and policies but it can also rank procedures for selecting which political opinion is to be enacted into law.”
  • “A just social system defines the scope within which individuals must develop their aims, and it provides a framework of rights and opportunities and the means of satisfaction within and by the use of which these ends may be equitably pursued.”
  • “… a well-ordered society [is] designed to advance the good of its members and effectively regulated by a public conception of justice. Thus, it is a society in which everyone accepts and knows that the other accept the same principle of justice, and the basic social institutions satisfy and are known to satisfy these principles.
  • “… a well-ordered society endures over time.”
  • “… principles for the basic structure of society are to be agreed to first, principles for individuals next, followed by those for the law of nations. Last of all the priority rules are adopted…”
  • A society should be built in order of…
    • Principles for structure of society
      • Social Systems
      • Institutions
    • Principles of individuals
      • Requirements
        • Natural Duties
        • Obligations
      • Permissions
        • Claims
        • Rights – “… a conception of right is a set of principles, general in form and universal in application, that is to be publicly recognized as a final court of appeal for ordering the conflicting claims of moral persons.”
    • Principles of the nation

Thanks for reading!