Justice As Fairness

JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS
OUTLINE OF THE UNIT

What is Justice?
Idea of Distributive Justice
John Rawls and Justice as Fairness
Criticisms
Conclusion
WHAT IS JUSTICE?
• The concept of Justice is a vexed and
controversial topic. Harold Potter- “Most men
think that they understand the meaning of
justice but in fact their meaning prove to be
vague”
• ORIGIN- Justice is derived from the Latin

word, jus or justus meaning law or right, or
justitia meaning justness or reasonableness.
• Two ways of describing Justice:

a)Procedural Justice and
b)Substantive Justice
Procedural justice relates to ‘how the rules are
made and applied’ and substantive justice
means ‘whether rules are just or unjust’.
Distributive Justice:
Who should get what and why?
An idea where justice is served through resource redistribution. This is done
in terms of the following criteria:
 Justice as Equality- Belief that everyone should get the same kind and
amount of stuff.
 The criterion of need- Belief that everyone shouldn’t get the same
because our needs aren’t the same.
 The criterion of merit/desert- Belief that those who deserve more

should get more, i.e. the meritorious need to be rewarded.
PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE
JOHN RAWLS
Justice as Fairness 1. Each person is to have an equal right to
the most extensive liberty compatible
with similar liberty to others.
A Theory of Justice(1971) is a work of 2. Social and economic inequalities are to
be arranged so that they are both:
political philosophy and ethics by John a) To the greatest benefit of the least
advantaged, and
Rawls. In this work Rawls attempts to b) Attached to offices and positions open to
all under conditions of fair equality and
solve the problem of distributive justice opportunity.
by utilising a variant of the familiar DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE
device of the social contract. The The central idea of Rawls’ theory of
resultant theory is known as “Justice as justice is “all social primary goods-
liberty and opportunity, income and
Fairness” from which Rawls derives wealth, and the bases of self-respect are to
be distributed equally unless an unequal
his two principles of justice. distribution of any or all these goods is to
the advantage of the least favoured”.
BASIS OF AN IDEAL
SOCIETY
Rawls argues that the principles of DEVELOPMENT OF HIS ARGUMENTS
justice which would establish the basis
Rawls has developed his arguments in four distinct
of an ideal society are principles that
parts-
would be chosen by every individual if
they were in what he calls an ‘Original i. The two principles of justice are accepted by
Position’. people in the hypothetical original position.
ORIGINAL POSITION: The ii. They then move to a constitutional convention and
concept of original position is the spine design a system of powers of the government and
of Rawls’ theory of justice. It is basic rights of the citizens so as to bring about a
imagined in the promise of arriving at society which corresponds to the theoretical
a conception of justice. formulation of the first part.
VEIL OF IGNORANCE: The iii. Laws are enacted and policies formulated to satisfy
assumption that nobody from the the two principles of justice agreed on earlier.
concerned parties seeking justice
knows certain particular facts about iv. The final part is where people actually observe
themselves, like one’s own social and live by the Rawlsian principles of justice and
status, wealth, fortune, assets, abilities, legal-constitutional arrangements devised for
intelligence, strength, and power, securing them.
which is an instrumental tool for
arriving at the original position.
CRITICISMS
Robert Nozick and COMMUNITARIAN CRITIQUE

Justice as Entitlement
• Alasdair MacIntyre, Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor
 In reponse to Rawls’
and Michael Walzer
conception of distributive
justice, Robert Nozick wrote
•Rejection of the quest for a universal theory of justice
his famous Anarchy, State and •Rawls’ individuals are radically disembodied subjects
Utopia(1974). •Priority of right over the good
 Nozick argued that there is a

kind of duality and self-
contradiction in in Rawls’ FEMINIST CRITIQUE
theory.
•Susan Moller Okin – Justice, Gender and the Family
 Almost every suggested
principle of distributive •Rawls fails to address gender inequality
justice is patterned.
QUICK REVISION
•What is Justice? REFERENCES:
•Idea of distributive justice
Political Theory: An Introduction –
•Justice as fairness
Rajiv Bhargava and Ashok Acharya
a. Two principles of Justice
b. Original Position RAWLSIAN JUSTICE: DISJUNCTION
BETWEEN CHOICE AND
c. Veil of Ignorance
OBSERVANCE article by T. Sharma The
•Criticisms to Rawlsian justice as Indian Journal of Political Science
fairness
a. Robert Nozick’s Justice as Political Theory – Hoveyda Abbas and
Entitlements Ranajay Kumar
b. Communitarian critique
c. Susan Moller Okin’s feminist
critique
THANK YOU 

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JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS

OUTLINE OF THE UNIT

Idea of Distributive Justice

John Rawls and Justice as Fairness

• ORIGIN- Justice is derived from the Latin

• Two ways of describing Justice:

 The criterion of merit/desert- Belief that those who deserve more

Robert Nozick and COMMUNITARIAN CRITIQUE

 Nozick argued that there is a

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