John Rawls quotes - page 3

Being happy involves both a certain achievement in action and a rational assurance about the outcome. (John Rawls)
Essentially the fault lies in the fact that the democratic political process is at best regulated rivalry; it does not even in theory have the desirable properties that price theory ascribes to truly competitive markets. View quote
John Rawls
First of all, no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like. Nor, again, does anyone know his conception of the good, the particulars of his rational plan of life, or even the special features of psychology such as his aversion to risk or liability to optimism or pessimism. More than this, I assume that the parties do not know the particular circumstances of their own society. That is, they do not know its particular economic or political situation, or the level of civilization and culture it has been able to achieve. The persons in the original position have no information as to which generation they belong. View quote
John Rawls
Many conservative writers have contended that the tendency to equality in modern social movements is the expression of envy. In this way they seek to discredit this trend, attributing it to collectively harmful impulses. View quote
John Rawls
I have assumed throughout that the persons in the original position are rational. View quote
John Rawls
Men resign themselves to their position should it ever occur to them to question it; and since all may view themselves as assigned their vocation, everyone is held to be equally fated and equally noble in the eyes of providence. View quote
John Rawls
Let us now consider whether justice requires the toleration of the intolerant, and if so under what conditions. There are a variety of situations in which this question arises. Some political parties in democratic states hold doctrines that commit them to suppress the constitutional liberties whenever they have the power. Again, there are those who reject intellectual freedom but who nevertheless hold positions in the university. It may appear that toleration in these cases is inconsistent with the principles of justice, or at any rate not required by them. View quote
John Rawls
Our concern is solely with the basic structure of society and its major institutions and therefore with the standard cases of social justice. View quote
John Rawls
I am particularly grateful to Nozick for his unfailing help and encouragement during the last stages. View quote
John Rawls
That persons have opposing interests and seek to advance their own conception of the good is not at all the same thing as their being moved by envy and jealousy. View quote
John Rawls
Yet it seems extraordinary that the justice of increasing the expectations of the better placed by a billion dollars, say, should turn on whether the prospects of the least favored increase or decrease by a penny. (John Rawls)
Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: first, they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society. View quote
John Rawls
The claims of existing social arrangements and of self interest have been duly allowed for. We cannot at the end count them a second time because we do not like the result. View quote
John Rawls
We must not be enticed by mathematically attractive assumptions into pretending that the contingencies of men's social positions and the asymmetries of their situations somehow even out in the end. Rather we must choose our conception of justice fully recognizing that this is not and cannot be the case. View quote
John Rawls
A just society is a society that if you knew everything about it, you'd be willing to enter it in a random place. View quote
John Rawls
The fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have. View quote
John Rawls
An injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice. View quote
John Rawls
A society regulated by a public sense of justice is inherently stable. View quote
John Rawls
The sense of justice is continuous with the love of mankind. View quote
John Rawls
Ideally citizens are to think of themselves as if they were legislators and ask themselves what statutes, supported by what reasons satisfying the criterion of reciprocity, they would think is most reasonable to enact. View quote
John Rawls
Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. (John Rawls)
The concept of justice I take to be defined, then, by the role of its principles in assigning rights and duties and in defining the appropriate division of social advantages. View quote
John Rawls
I have tried to set forth a theory that enables us to understand and to assess these feelings about the primacy of justice. View quote
John Rawls
We cannot at the end count them a second time because we do not like the result. View quote
John Rawls
The concept of justice I take to be defined, then, by the role of its principles in assigning rights and duties and in defining the appropriate division of social advantages. A conception of justice is an interpretation of this role. View quote
John Rawls