Rawls’ Theory Of Justice And Its Contemporary Reflection

Justice, a key word in theoretical politics studies, is also the prime value of a political system. On this topic, the works of John Rawls are generally recognized as most representative among enormous analyses by western academia. A theory of justice, Rawls’ masterpiece on the subject, has been a cornerstone of political philosophy studies since it first publish in 1971, and a magnet of academic interest to many Chinese scholars starting from its Chinese edition in the 1980 s. To examine and interpret Rawls’ justice theory in this time of achieving the Chinese nation’s bright prospect on the road to revival, is of utmost academic and practical significance.For Rawls, Justice means fair. Only in the condition provided by the veil of ignorance can people be able to choose the two principals of justice naturally and objectively rather than choosing principals that tend to benefit them for their own specific demand. And it is by the fully examination of these two principals may Rawls’ theme value, namely the three ideas of justice, be adequately understood. Rawls’ theory is characterize by its axiomatic logical and individualist methodology, as well as ethical features of that of a capitalist institution.First, with a background review of the origin of the theory, this thesis explicates the unique choice of methods applied by Rawls’ theory of justice, demonstrating Rawls’ effective introducing of arguments as intuitionism, contract theory and reflective equilibrium into the proving of his theory of justice. Secondly, based on Rawls’ argumentation methods, a thorough statement is formed, which covers the three aspects of theoretical premise, theoretical foundation and value theme, of the basic content and the theoretical innovation of Rawls’ theory of justice, and argues that a proper grasp of the value theme of this theory may only be acquired by a natural, objective choosing of the two justice principles in the condition of ‘the Veil of Ignorance’ and ‘Original Position’. Last, after a comment of Rawls’ theory of justice using Marxism justice thinking, which points out its rationality and limitations, it is found out in a specific reflection of Rawls’ two justice principles, that Rawls’ theory, though implying capitalism substantially, is able to provide rich thinking resources for China’s improvement of the theory and practice of justice.