Interpersonal Distrust in the Modified Rawlsian Society

Authors

Daniel J. Gifford, University of Minnesota Law SchoolFollow

Publication

SMU Law Review

Volume

48

Page

217

Year

1994

Abstract

JOHN RAWLS, the author of the widely acclaimed A Theory of Justice, 1 has modified and supplemented his theory of the just society in his new book Political Liberalism. Rawls's theory of justice, which he calls "justice as fairness," continues to consist essentially of two principles: a liberty principle under which each person is entitled to the maximum possible liberty consistent with equal liberty for others, and a difference principle, under which social and economic inequalities are justified only to the extent that they contribute to raising the absolute level of well being of the least advantaged class over the long run. 2 These two principles are slightly modified in Rawls's new book, 3 but these modifications are not the reason behind the revision of the Theory in Political Liberalism.

Comments

Review Essay: reviewing John Rawls, Political Liberalism (Columbia University Press, 1993).

Recommended Citation

Daniel J. Gifford, Interpersonal Distrust in the Modified Rawlsian Society, 48 SMU L. Rev. 217 (1994), available at https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/faculty_articles/335.