"a Theory Of Justice" To The "law Of Nations"

In A Theory of Justice (1971), Rawls tried to establish a new just system info to replace utilitarianism. Since his theory was proposed, many debates came forth with it. During the process of replying those critics, Rawls started to amend his theory. He originally attempted to strengthen the ethical foundation of his political philosophy to settle those puzzles proposed by critics. But in Political Liberalism published in 1993, he descended to strictly restrict his theory in the field of political philosophy, at the same time he clearly alleged that political liberalism had no use for any metaphysical or ethical theory as its theoretic base, on the contrary, it was a rational way to account for all kinds of theoretic and practical conflicts brought by those metaphysical and ethical theories. This declare became a strong theoretic armament for Rawls to meet critics, and a guide idea of his The Law of Peoples (1999), differently in this new volume, Rawls extended his theory from domestic political field to international political field. This essay is my brief account of the developmental process of Rawls1 political philosophy.