John Rawls facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Rawls
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Rawls in 1971
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John Bordley Rawls
February 21, 1921 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
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| Died | November 24, 2002 (aged 81) Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Education | Princeton University (AB, PhD) Christ Church, Oxford |
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Notable work
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A Theory of Justice (1971) |
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Margaret Warfield Fox
(m. 1949) |
| Awards | Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy (1999) National Humanities Medal (1999) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
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| Institutions | Princeton University Cornell University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University |
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Main interests
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Notable ideas
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Influenced
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John Bordley Rawls (born February 21, 1921 – died November 24, 2002) was an American philosopher. He focused on ideas about morals, laws, and politics. He is known for his work in the liberal tradition, which values freedom and equal rights.
Rawls received important awards, like the Schock Prize and the National Humanities Medal, both in 1999. President Bill Clinton gave him the National Humanities Medal. Clinton said Rawls's work "revived" (brought back to life) political and moral philosophy. Rawls argued that a society where the most fortunate help those less fortunate is not only fair but also logical.
Many people consider Rawls one of the most important political philosophers of the 20th century. His ideas are often used by courts in the United States and Canada. Politicians in the U.S. and the United Kingdom also refer to his work. In a 2008 survey, professors voted Rawls as the scholar who had the biggest impact on political theory in the past 20 years.
Rawls's main idea was called ""justice as fairness"." It suggests that everyone should have equal basic freedoms and equal chances in life. It also says that if there are differences in society, they should benefit the people who are worst off. To explain this, Rawls used a thought experiment called the "original position." In this experiment, people imagine they are choosing the rules for a society without knowing their own place in it. This helps them choose fair rules. In his later book, Political Liberalism (1993), Rawls thought about how political power can be fair when people have different ideas about what a good life means.
John Rawls's Life Story
Early Life and Schooling
John Rawls was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 21, 1921. He was one of five sons. His father, William Lee Rawls, was a well-known lawyer.
Rawls's biographer, Thomas Pogge, said that the deaths of two of John's brothers were very important events in his childhood. They died from illnesses they caught from John.
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Rawls went to school in Baltimore and then to Kent School, a special preparatory school in Connecticut. After graduating in 1939, he went to Princeton University. At Princeton, he was influenced by Norman Malcolm, a student of the famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
During his last two years at Princeton, Rawls became very interested in religion. He even thought about becoming a priest. He wrote a long paper called "Meaning of Sin and Faith." In this paper, he argued against the idea that natural differences in people's abilities should decide how wealth is shared in society. Even after Rawls became an atheist (someone who does not believe in God), some of these ideas appeared in his book A Theory of Justice. Rawls finished Princeton in 1943 with high honors.
Military Service in World War II
Rawls joined the U.S. Army in February 1943. During World War II, he served as an infantry soldier in the Pacific. He fought in New Guinea and the Philippines, where he saw a lot of intense fighting and violence. It was during this time that he lost his Christian faith and became an atheist.
After Japan surrendered, Rawls was part of General MacArthur's army that occupied Japan. He was promoted to sergeant. However, he became unhappy with the military after seeing the destruction from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Rawls then refused an order to punish another soldier because he felt it was unfair. He was demoted back to a private. Feeling disappointed, he left the military in January 1946.
University Career
In 1946, Rawls went back to Princeton to study moral philosophy. He married Margaret Warfield Fox in 1949. They had four children together.
Rawls earned his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1950. He then taught there until 1952. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study at Oxford University in England. There, he was influenced by thinkers like Isaiah Berlin and H. L. A. Hart.
After returning to the U.S., he taught at Cornell University and then at MIT. In 1962, he became a full professor at Cornell. Later that year, he moved to Harvard University. He taught at Harvard for nearly 40 years. Many important philosophers today were his students, including Thomas Nagel and Christine Korsgaard.
Later Life and Death
Rawls did not often give interviews. He had a stutter and did not like being in the public eye, even though he was famous. He preferred to focus on his academic work and family.
In 1995, he had several strokes, which made it hard for him to work. But he still managed to finish his book The Law of Peoples. This book explained his ideas on international justice. In 2001, shortly before he died, he published Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. This book answered some of the criticisms of his first major work.
John Rawls died on November 24, 2002, at the age of 81. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife, Mard, and their four children and four grandchildren.
Rawls's Main Ideas
Rawls wrote three main books. His first book, A Theory of Justice, looked at how things should be shared fairly in society. It tried to bring together the ideas of freedom and equality. His second book, Political Liberalism, explored how people with different beliefs could live together peacefully in a democracy. His third book, The Law of Peoples, discussed fairness between different countries.
What is A Theory of Justice?
A Theory of Justice was published in 1971. It aimed to solve the problem of how to have both freedom and equality in society. Rawls did not want to just balance them. Instead, he wanted to show that freedom and equality could work together perfectly. He called this idea justice as fairness.
The Original Position and Veil of Ignorance
In A Theory of Justice, Rawls introduced a thought experiment called the "original position." Imagine you are trying to decide what a fair society would look like. Rawls believed that to think about justice correctly, you need to ignore certain things about people, like their hair color, race, or height.
The original position is a made-up situation. A group of people must agree on the political and economic rules for a society they will live in. But here's the catch: each person is behind a "veil of ignorance." This means they don't know anything about themselves. They don't know their gender, race, age, intelligence, wealth, skills, education, or religion. The only thing they know is that they are able to take part in society.
Rawls said that people in this original position would know two things about themselves. First, they can form and change their ideas about what a good life is. Second, they can develop a sense of justice and want to follow it. Knowing only these things, each person would try to create the best society for themselves.
The idea is that no one would suggest unfair rules, like saying women or black people can't hold public office. Why? Because they wouldn't know if they themselves would be a woman or a black person. It would be illogical to propose something that might hurt them. This leads to the difference principle: if you don't know your place in society, you would want to improve the lives of the worst-off people, because you might end up being one of them.
Rawls's idea of the original position was inspired by earlier thinkers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Each of these thinkers used similar "starting points" to explore political ideas.
Principles of Justice
From the original position, Rawls came up with two main principles of justice:
- Liberty Principle: Everyone should have equal basic freedoms. This includes freedoms like speaking your mind, joining groups, and having democratic rights. Rawls also included the right to own personal property.
- Equality Principle: This principle has two parts:
* Fair Equality of Opportunity: People with similar talents and motivation should have similar life chances. This means everyone should have a fair shot at success. * Difference Principle: Any differences in wealth or power should benefit the least advantaged members of society. This means that if some people are richer, it should somehow help those who are poorer.
Rawls believed these principles should apply to the "basic structure" of society. This includes important institutions like the legal system, the economy, and the government. He also said that the Liberty Principle (freedom) should always come before the Equality Principle.
What is Political Liberalism?
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In Political Liberalism (1993), Rawls thought about how a government can be fair when citizens have many different ideas about religion, morals, and what a good life is. He said that these disagreements are normal in a free society. The challenge is how a government can be fair and legitimate despite these differences.
Rawls argued that a fair government must use "public reason." This means that when people discuss public matters, they should use reasons that everyone can understand and accept. For example, a judge deciding a case should not use their personal religious beliefs. Instead, they should use reasons that are shared by everyone, like the idea of protecting children.
Rawls believed that this "duty of civility" (being polite and reasonable in public discussions) applies to everyone. This includes government leaders and citizens deciding who to vote for. This way, public discussions focus on shared values like freedom, equality, and fairness.
Rawls also updated his principles of justice slightly in this book:
- Every person has an equal right to a full set of basic rights and freedoms, which should be the same for everyone. Political freedoms, in particular, must be truly valuable to all.
- Social and economic differences must meet two conditions: first, they must be linked to jobs and positions open to everyone under fair conditions; and second, they must benefit the least fortunate members of society the most.
What is The Law of Peoples?
In The Law of Peoples, Rawls wrote about fairness between different countries or "peoples." He said that "well-ordered" peoples can be either "liberal" (like democratic countries with strong freedoms) or "decent." Decent peoples might have a state religion or different ways of political participation, but they must respect human rights and not act aggressively towards other nations.
Rawls believed that liberal countries should tolerate decent peoples. However, countries that do not respect human rights or are aggressive are called "outlaw states." These states do not deserve the same respect.
Rawls also discussed global fairness. He argued that his principles of justice should not be applied globally in the same way they are applied within a country. He believed that countries, unlike individuals, are mostly self-sufficient. He said that aid should be given to countries that cannot protect human rights due to poverty. But this aid should not be to make all countries equally wealthy. Instead, it should help them build fair political systems. He worried that endless aid might make some countries less responsible.
Rawls also condemned the bombing of civilians in wars, including the American bombing of German and Japanese cities in World War II. He also talked about the idea of a "statesman," a leader who thinks about future generations and promotes peace between nations. Rawls also said that if a country violates human rights, other countries might be justified in stepping in with military force. However, he hoped that such countries could be encouraged to change peacefully.
Awards and Honors
- Bronze Star for his work in World War II.
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1966).
- Ralph Waldo Emerson Award (1972).
- Elected to the American Philosophical Society (1974).
- Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (1992).
- Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy (1999).
- National Humanities Medal (1999).
- An asteroid, 16561 Rawls, is named after him.
See also
- List of American philosophers
- List of liberal theorists
- Philosophy of economics
- A Theory of Justice: The Musical!
