The Dimension of Social Solidarity in Distributive Justice
Author(s)
Reidy, David A.
Abstract
John Rawls (1921-2002) devoted most of his professional life as a philosopher to the articulation and defense of what he argued was the most reasonable conception of justice for a constitutional liberal democracy, a conception he named “justice as fairness.” He intended justice as fairness to answer, or at least to frame and focus, the most basic political question citizens face in any democracy: How ought we collectively, as democratic citizens, organize our polity? What institutions ought we have, and how ought they be related one to another? This question always lurks just beneath the surface of everyday politics. It is a question we must, both individually and collectively, be able to answer, or at least intelligently discuss, if we are to preserve a nonviolent everyday politics of mutual trust and reason-giving. This entry introduces John Rawls and his theory of justice.
