The Life and Mindd of John Bordley Rawls

JOHN RAWLS – THE LIFE AND MIND

Contemporary philosopher John Bordley Rawls provided the liberal world with an ethical theory that placed the concept of justice at its center of concentration. John Rawls was arguably one of the most influential political philosophers of the Twentieth Century following the Second World War. Rawls published his first book, “A Theory of Justice”, in 1971, which was widely considered his best work and the most important work of political philosophy. Rawlsianism, Rawls’ philosophical basis, aimed at challenging utilitarian principles and it therefore received both strong support and strong opposition.2

Biographical Sketch

John Rawls was born into a comfortable family in Baltimore, Maryland where he attended school until graduation.1 Rawls studied at Princeton University and was soon drafted into the United States Army as an infantryman.2 After turning down a position as an officer, Rawls returned to Princeton where he received a doctorate of philosophy in 1949.2 After teaching and studying at Princeton University, Cornell, and MIT, he decided to take a position teaching philosophy at Harvard where he taught until 1990.1 Despite his intellectual fame, Rawls lived a withdrawn life as a family man and academic instead of a public intellectual.2 John Rawls brought the study of political theory back to the headlines of academic institutions around the world.

I. The Basic Structure of Society

The primary social goods proposed by Rawls are (1) rights and liberties, (2) opportunities and powers, and (3) income and wealth, that any reasonable person would want more of rather than less. Rawls believes that we have a right to these goods and it is the collective responsibility of the commun...

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