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“What is Fairness or
Social Justice in Today’s
Society?”
Three Major
Conceptions of Justice
In Contemporary
Democracy
• Libertarian
• Egalitarian
• Contractarian
Libertarian View of
Justice in the Social
Contract
Thomas Jefferson
John Rawls
A Theory of Justice
Tension . . .
• Justice creates the circumstance
under which cooperation is both
possible and necessary.
• It is not possible to have a social
contract that promotes cooperation
unless there is a system of justice.
• Justice presupposes conflicts of
interest. If never any conflicts
among people we would need no
theory of justice, or a “social
contract.”.
• The values of liberty and equality
often conflict and thus compete with
one another.
• What happens when your liberty
precludes my equality, or vice
versa?
John Rawls’
Contractarian Theory
of Justice
• Blends libertarian and egalitarian
views, attempting to balance the
ideals of liberty and equality.
• It does so by emphasizing, as a
moral requirement, that those who
have more than enough, help those
in need.
• Accepts the egalitarian criticism of
negative rights, thus wants to
advocate for working for the
common good.
• But also accepts the the libertarian
view that one’s liberty should not
be unduly violated.
Rawls . . .
Lester Thurow
MIT economist
in “How Much Inequality Can A
Democracy Take?”