On The Idea Of The Original Position In Rawls' Theory Of Justice

Rawls is the most important western political philosopher in the twentieth century. His theory of justice as fairness has been regarded by western thinkers as the quintessence which has grand system and exquisite thought. And as is known to all, his theory is established on the foundation of the idea of the original position which is the most characteristic and basic aspect of the theory of justice. The idea of the original position not only has played the most important role in Rawls' theoretic system of justice, but also has aroused strong response and greatly pushed forward the development of western political philosophy .In the view of that, this dissertation, from three angels, systematically expounds Rawls' idea of the original position as well as its significance, so that people can understand it more comprehensively and more precisely. Accordingly, this dissertation is mainly divided into three parts as following:Viewing from the interior of the idea of the original position, the first part of this dissertation dwells on the implication, content and character of it. The original position is the ideal background designed by Rawls in which a contract can be concluded. The idea of original position is just the expoundation of this state. As a new contract theory, it comprises the background and the object of choosing. The background of choosing is composed of moderate scarcity of the objective circumstance and the veil of ignorance of the subjective circumstance. In this kind of background, from fair starting point, selecters choose the principle of justice which can regulate the basic structure of society. This idea has threercharacters as following: in view of means, it is a kind of hypothesis which has not historical and actual meaning; seeing from the contract, it is a kind of device of representation which reflects the essence of justice, that is to say, the freedom and equality of man; as far as the value orientation is concerned, it demonstrates Rawls' strong concern about the equal freedom of everyone, especially of the least advantaged.From the angel of Rawls' whole theory of justice, the second part of this dissertation analyses the reasons that Rawls raised the idea of the original position and the role of the idea in the whole theoretic of justice. The reasons that Rawls put forward the idea of the original position, that is to say, the reasons that he constructed his whole system, are as following: the first is that he wanted to establish a new contract theory and elevated it to a higher level of abstraction, the second is that he hoped to establish a kind of theory of equal justice, and subsequently criticized the dominant utilitarianism. Furthermore, his life experience is also one of the reasons .The idea of the original position plays a significant part in his whole theoretic system. It founds a basic tone of equalitarian liberalism for his whole theoryof justice.It provides an evidence in the sense of theory of justice of contract for the principle of justice as fairness including national and international principle of justice. It lays a moral foundation for the institution of justice. And it runs through his whole thought from moral philosophy to political philosophy as well as from national justice to international justice.In the third part, the dissertation points out that in view of the whole political philosophy, the idea of the original position has caused widespread discussion in contemporary political philosophy. As the main stream of contemporary political philosophy, both liberalism and communitarianism have commented on the idea of the original position from different angels. As a liberatarianist, Nozick raised his theory of holding justice after criticising the idea of the original position. Sandel , the most important representive of communitarianism , criticized Rawls' conception of self and put forward the conception of situated self. This dissertation makes remarks on these challenges directed at the idea of the original position ,and on this foundation demo...