The Contributions Of John Rawls Essay - 5959 Words

INTRODUCTION: John Rawls was born on 21st February, 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was practicing laugher and his mother was the President of the new League of women voters in Baltimore. Rawls graduated from the Princeton University majoring in philosophy. Upon graduating from Princeton University, Rawls joined the US army and when his troops visited the remains of Hiroshima, if profound effect on him. Later, he joined the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, as assistant Professor of Philosophy. In 1962, he was given Professorship at Harvard where he published his ‘Theory of Justice’ in 1971 and was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Ralph Waldo Emerson prize in 1972. He retired in 1991 but continued teaching political philosophy till 1995. In 1999, a National Humanitarian Medal was awarded to him by President Clinton and in the same year received the Rolfs chock prize in logic and philosophy. He was a quiet and modest man who was not active in public life. He was the opinion that when they address the public, philosophers were misunderstood and that philosophy has an indirect influence on political life. His interest in justice developed in earlier when he saw the mass carnage of the World War II. This made him to question the existence of religious beliefs. Why would God create human to accept and engage in slaughter and destruction of other human? He enquired whether a just society was possible to attain. The consequences of World War II led him to abandonShow MoreRelatedJohn Rawls Justice is Fairness1525 Words   |  7 Pagesan article titled: The Enduring Significance of John Rawls. John Rawls, a political philosopher around the 1950’s but was not well known until the 1970’s. John Rawls was highly recognized and studied at many established colleges such as Oxford, Cornell University where Rawls became a professional philosopher and Harvard. Rawls wrote many series of highly known and influential articles regarding moral, political and philosophical problems. Rawls is well known for many different ideas and theories;Read MoreJohn Rawls s Theory Of Justice1471 Word s   |  6 PagesJohn Rawls â€Å"A Theory of Justice.† John Rawls was an American political and moral philosopher. Rawls attempts to determine the principles of social justice. In this essay, I will elucidate John Rawls’ views on forming a social contract, the counter-arguments against Rawls’ theory and finally the state of debate on the counter-arguments. John Rawls set out on his discussion on justice and fairness in his book A Theory of Justice 1971. Rawls theory describes a society with free citizens holding equalRead MoreJohn Rawls on Justice Essay1430 Words   |  6 Pages John Rawls was a man who played an influential role in shaping political thought in the late 20th century. Rawls is accredited for writing two major contributions that has helped influence political ideology of those even today. His first piece was published in 1971, A Theory of Justice, which argues his belief of justice on the domestic level and also that reconciliation between liberty and equality must occur in order to have a just society . Rawls’s belief of what justice should be is extremelyRead MoreThe Philosophy Of Social Justice1507 Words   |  7 Pagesare embedded in social justice. Individuals living in harmony for mutual benefit living in a state of society are set out by social contract. This paper will firstly show, the background of the philosophy of social justice. Then it will focus on John Rawls Theory of Justice. Secondly, It addresses the stages of the Theory of Justice, It then historical nature of social justice in conjunction with western philosoph y. Lastly it will look at the diversity of philosophical and ethical thought. DuringRead MoreSociety Should Increase Accessibility And Make Accommodations For Disable People1670 Words   |  7 Pagestheir own accommodations in society. When it comes to whether or not society should increase accessibility and make accommodations for disable people two Philosophers Aristotle and John Rawls have two different perspectives on the issue. While, Aristotle argues about the most virtue individual should have the opportunity. Rawls argues about how your identity should not define whether you can be fairly integrated into society. This paper will focus and evaluating both argues on whether society should increaseRead MoreImportant industry in California1394 Words   |  6 PagesSpanish Aztec Empire, by the name of Hernà ¡n Cortà ©s led the Spanish expedition that soon became the discovery of Baja California, in which the Spanish later named â€Å"the Californias†, after an old Spanish novel called, Las Sergas de Esplandià ¡n (Bean, Rawls 22). This quickly le d to further interest of the newly discovered land, and in 1542, Upper California was discovered by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Due to the seldom amount of ships that made route along the California coast, and along with the difficultiesRead MoreRawls’s and Nozick’s Theory on Distributive Justice1604 Words   |  7 Pagesunderstanding John Rawls bases his theory on the veil of ignorance. It’s an imaginative situation that puts all rational people together and lets them make decisions on the justice structure of society without being effected by power or any other influences coming from other people. Having that in mind, all people under the veil of ignorance make decisions with out knowing the results, what place they will take in society and what advantage or privilege that person would have. Based on this, Rawls statesRead MoreDemocracy And The Problem Of Distributive Justice1443 Words   |  6 PagesDistributive Justice The preliminary point into an inquiry of distributive justice is to disconnect the conjunction of â€Å"distributive,† and â€Å"justice†. For the purpose of this essay, I will inherit and accept John Rawls explanation of justice from A Theory of Justice. â€Å"Justice,† according to Rawls, â€Å"is the first virtue of social institutions.† Therefore, from a societal perspective, justice as the first virtue negates the utilitarian maxim that a loss of freedom for one would be acceptable if thereRead MoreCase Analysis : Plainfield Healthcare Center Essay1455 Words   |  6 Pagesinstead of protecting the black nurse from racism. In the case, the party that suffers the loss is Brenda Chaney who lost her job due to racism and accusation for the usage of profanity as she was attending her patient. In the paper, we will use the Rawls Principle of Justice to determine whether the manager has made the right decision to fire Chaney and whether the nursing hom e conduct of giving the patient the privilege to choose their own caretakers on the basis of race. We will use the two principlesRead MoreUse Of Consequentialism, Desire Satisfaction Theory And Objective List Theory1345 Words   |  6 Pagesother good good). Utilitarianism is a branch of consequentialism first presented by Jeremy Bentham and then modified by John Stuart Mill. The version of utilitarianism I will be assessing throughout this paper is the theory of act utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism in a nutshell, is the idea that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to maximising the happiness in terms of pleasure for everyone. It claims that happiness and pleasure are intrinsically