 justice as fairness: political not metaphysical is an essay by john rawls, published in 1985.john rawls, "justice as fairness: political not metaphysical," philosophy and public affairs 14 (summer 1985): 223-251. in it he describes his conception of justice. it comprises two main principles of liberty and equality; the second is subdivided into fair equality of opportunity and the difference principle. rawls arranges the principles in 'lexical priority', prioritising in the order of the liberty principle, fair equality of opportunity and the difference principle. this order determines the priorities of the principles if they conflict in practice. the principles are, however, intended as a single, comprehensive conception of justiceâ'justice as fairness'âand not to function individually. these principles are always applied so as to ensure that the "least advantaged" are benefitted and not hurt or forgotten. rawls presented the theory in the famous a theory of justice, subsequently revising it in political liberalism. ==first principle: the liberty principle== the first and most important principle states that every individual has an equal right to basic liberties, rawls claiming "that certain rights and freedoms are more important or 'basic' than others".freeman, 2007:45 for example, freeman argues, rawls believes that "personal property" â personal belongings, a home â constitutes a basic liberty, but an absolute right to unlimited private property is not.freeman, 2007:50 as basic liberties, they are inalienable: no government can amend, infringe or remove them from individuals.freeman 2007:51 in a theory of justice, rawls articulates the liberty principle as the most extensive basic liberty compatible with similar liberty for others; he later amended this in political liberalism, stating instead that "each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties".rawls 2005:5 ==second principle: the equality principle== the equality principle is the component of justice as fairness establishing distributive justice. rawls awards the fair equality of opportunity principle lexical priority over the difference principle: a society cannot arrange inequalities to maximise the share of the least advantaged whilst not allowing access to certain offices or positions. ===fair equality of opportunity=== this principle maintains that "offices and positions"freeman, 2010:86 should be open to any individual, regardless of his or her social background, ethnicity or sex. it is stronger than 'formal equality of opportunity' in that rawls argues that an individual should not only have the right to opportunities, but should have an effective equal chance as another of similar natural ability.werner, 2008: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equal-
Contemporary_philosophical_literature Egalitarianism Justice Philosophy_essays Social_philosophy_literature Theories_of_law