John Rawls quotes

John Rawls was an American political philosopher, widely recognized for his influential work on theories of justice and fairness. His book "A Theory of Justice" introduced the idea of the original position and the veil of ignorance as tools for determining principles of justice. He shaped modern political philosophy and remains a central figure in debates about equality and moral reasoning. Here are 77 of his quotes:

Justice as fairness provides what we want.

John Rawls

Intuitionism is not constructive, perfectionism is unacceptable.

John Rawls

Ideally a just constitution would be a just procedure arranged to insure a just outcome.

John Rawls

The circumstances of justice may be described as the normal conditions under which human cooperation is both possible and necessary.

John Rawls

No one deserves his greater natural capacity nor merits a more favorable starting place in society.

John Rawls

Justice is happiness according to virtue.

John Rawls

The fault of the utilitarian doctrine is that it mistakes impersonality for impartiality.

John Rawls

Ideal legislators do not vote their interests.

John Rawls

The fundamental criterion for judging any procedure is the justice of its likely results.

John Rawls

There are infinitely many variations of the initial situation and therefore no doubt indefinitely many theorems of moral geometry.

John Rawls

There is a divergence between private and social accounting that the market fails to register. One essential task of law and government is to institute the necessary conditions.

John Rawls

A just system must generate its own support.

John Rawls

We may suppose that everyone has in himself the whole form of a moral conception.

John Rawls

The extreme nature of dominant-end views is often concealed by the vagueness and ambiguity of the end proposed.

John Rawls

The hazards of the generalized prisoner's dilemma are removed by the match between the right and the good.

John Rawls

An intolerant sect has no right to complain when it is denied an equal liberty... A person's right to complain is limited to principles he acknowledges himself.

John Rawls

The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.

John Rawls

In all sectors of society there should be roughly equal prospects of culture and achievement for everyone similarly motivated and endowed. The expectations of those with the same abilities and aspirations should not be affected by their social class.

John Rawls

The intolerant can be viewed as free-riders, as persons who seek the advantages of just institutions while not doing their share to uphold them.

John Rawls

Many of our most serious conflicts are conflicts within ourselves. Those who suppose their judgements are always consistent are unreflective or dogmatic.

John Rawls

Thus I assume that to each according to his threat advantage is not a conception of justice.

John Rawls

In constant pursuit of money to finance campaigns, the political system is simply unable to function. Its deliberative powers are paralyzed.

John Rawls