RAWLS"S ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE .
Who was John Rawls and why is he important?.
John Borden Rawls was born in 1921 into a rich Baltimore family, studied and taught at prestigious universities abroad, which included Oxford, Princeton and Harvard, just to name a few. Today, he has been acknowledged as America's, and quite possibly the world's, leading political philosopher. One factor I found interesting in my research is that Rawls doesn't represent a philosophical theory that dates back to hundreds of years ago (eg. Aristotal, Plato or Kant), but rather represents a powerful and influential argument relating to our current times.
Rawls's political views and theories focused on the epi-center of justice as it relates to our personal freedoms. As such, his works are studied regularly by students of Western politics or philosophy, as well as by many students in Europe. His theory has also been diagnosed or featured in more than 5,000 books. In a nutshell, Rawls believed that the most distinctive element of human nature is the right and ability to choose our own ends. Given this baseline, he felt that all fellow citizens should respect the rights and autonomy of others in an effort to let them choose their own destiny. He gives priority to what's "Right", over what's "Good".
What is A Theory of Justice?.
Rawls's A Theory of Justice represents more than a decade of work and his deep sense on political philosophy as it relates to preserving the rights of humans through a theory protected by something as powerful as a unified justice. His book was originally published and released in the U.S. in 1971. The book I read, which is a paraphrased manuscript on Rawls's Theory, is titled Rawls - A Theory of Justice and its Critics, by Chandran Kukathas and Philip Pettit. This book simply visited each of Rawls's key principles, and provided either supporting or critical viewpoints on the validity and truth in what Rawls was representing in his book.