A Theory of Justice: Original Edition

John Rawls aims to express an essential part of the common core of the democratic tradition€•justice as fairness€•and to provide an alternative to utilitarianism, which had dominated the Anglo-Saxon tradition of political thought since the nineteenth century. Rawls substitutes the ideal of the social contract as a more satisfactory account of the basic rights and liberties of citizens as free and equal persons. €œEach person,€ writes Rawls, €œpossesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.€ Advancing the ideas of Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, and Lincoln, Rawls€s theory is as powerful today as it was when first published.

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls€s view, much of the extensive literature on his theory refers to the original. This first edition is available for scholars and serious students of Rawls€s work.