Books by John Rawls

Since it appeared in 1971, John Rawls's A Theory of Justice has become a classic. The author has now revised the original edition to clear up a number of difficulties he and others have found in the original book.

Hvis man blindt fulgte nytteetikkens påbud om altid at foretage den handling, som producerer størst mulig lykke til det størst mulige antal individer, ville man let kunne retfærdiggøre nogle meget ubehagelige handlinger. I denne artikel fra 1955 forsøger John Rawls at afdække denne blinde vinkel i utilitarismen ved hjælp af en vigtig skelnen. Rawls vil vise os, at der er forskel på at retfærdiggøre en praksis og at retfærdiggøre en handling, der falder ind under en praksis. Ved at kombinere nytteetikkens klassiske standpunkt og en praksisopfattelse af regler bliver det muligt for utilitaristen at besvare en række traditionelle indvendinger, som f.eks. hvorfor man ikke bør bryde sine løfter, selvom det kan være til større gavn end at holde dem. To opfattelser af regler er en del af bogserien AFTRYK, der samler korte og vedkommende filosofiske tekster med en væsentlig virkningshistorie. Søren Flinch Midtgaard har skrevet introduktionen til teksten, der gør den relevant for studerende såvel som læsere, som ønsker at få indblik i debatten mellem handlings- og regelutilitarismen.

Constantly revised and refined over three decades, Rawls's lectures on various historical figures reflect his developing and changing views on the history of liberalism and democracy. With its careful analyses of the doctrine of the social contract, utilitarianism, and socialism, this volume has a critical place in the traditions it expounds.

Before and after writing his great treatises, Rawls produced a steady stream of essays. They are important in and of themselves because of the deep issues about the nature of justice, moral reasoning, and liberalism they raise as well as for the light they shed on the evolution of Rawls's views.

This book continues and revises the ideas of justice as fairness that John Rawls presented in A Theory of Justice but changes its philosophical interpretation in a fundamental way. That previous work assumed what Rawls calls a "e;well-ordered society,"e; one that is stable and relatively homogenous in its basic moral beliefs and in which there is broad agreement about what constitutes the good life. Yet in modern democratic society a plurality of incompatible and irreconcilable doctrines-religious, philosophical, and moral-coexist within the framework of democratic institutions. Recognizing this as a permanent condition of democracy, Rawls asks how a stable and just society of free and equal citizens can live in concord when divided by reasonable but incompatible doctrines?This edition includes the essay "e;The Idea of Public Reason Revisited,"e; which outlines Rawls' plans to revise Political Liberalism, which were cut short by his death. "e;An extraordinary well-reasoned commentary on A Theory of Justice...a decisive turn towards political philosophy."e; -Times Literary Supplement