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Amazon.co.uk Review
Since it appeared in 1971, John Rawls's A Theory of Justice has become a classic. The author has now revised the original edition to clear up a number of difficulties he and others have found in the original book. 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 19th 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. "Each person", writes Rawls, "possesses 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. --Christine Buttery
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
In his magisterial new work...John Rawls draws on the most subtle techniques of contemporary analytic philosophy to provide the social contract tradition with what is, from a philosophical point of view at least, the most formidable defense it has yet received...[and] makes available the powerful intellectual resources and the comprehensive approach that have so far eluded antiutilitarians. He also makes clear how wrong it was to claim, as so many were claiming only a few years back, that systematic moral and political philosophy are dead...Whatever else may be true it is surely true that we must develop a sterner and more fastidious sense of justice. In making his peerless contribution to political theory, John Rawls has made a unique contribution to this urgent task. No higher achievement is open to a scholar. -- Marshall Cohen New York Times Book Review Rawls's Theory of Justice is widely and justly regarded as this century's most important work of political philosophy. Originally published in 1971, it quickly became the subject of extensive commentary and criticism, which led Rawls to revise some of the arguments he had originally put forward in this work...This edition will certainly become the definitive one; all scholars will use it, and it will be an essential text for any academic library. It contains a new preface that helpfully outlines the major revisions, and a 'conversion table' that correlates the pagination of this edition with the original, which will be useful to students and scholars working with this edition and the extensive secondary literature on Rawls's work. Highly recommended. -- J. D. Moon Choice [Rawls] has elucidated a conception of justice which goes beyond anything to be found in Kant or Rousseau. It is a convincing refutation, if one is needed, of any lingering suspicions that the tradition of English-speaking political philosophy might be dead. Indeed, his book might plausibly be claimed to be the most notable contribution to that tradition to have been published since Sidgwick and Mill. Times Literary Supplement Enlightenment comes in various forms, sometimes even by means of books. And it is a pleasure to recommend...an indigenous American philosophical masterpiece of the first order...I mean...to press my recommendation of [this book] to non-philosophers, especially those holding positions of responsibility in law and government. For the topic with which it deals is central to this country's purposes, and the misunderstanding of that topic is central to its difficulties...And the central idea is simple, elegant, plausible, and easily applied by anybody at any time as a measure of the justice of his own actions. -- Peter Caws New Republic With the simple carpentry of its arguments, its egalitarian leanings, and its preoccupation with fairness, Rawls's classic 1971 work, A Theory of Justice, is as American a book as, say, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. -- Will Blythe Civilization
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Buyers should be advised that this edition (2005) is the reissue of the first edition (1971) of A Theory of Justice. The revised edition (1999) A Theory of Justice Rev (Paper) (Belknap) is shorter. If you read Theory of Jutice for a course, I'd ask the lecturer which edition you should buy. On the one hand, a lot of the secondary literature will refer to the 1971 edition (basically everything written between 1971 and 1998--note that the revised edition includes a conversion table). On the other hand, the 1999 edition reflects Rawls' thought at the time slightly more faithfully (still: to understand Rawls' later work, one needs to read his Political Liberalism (John Dewey Essays in Philosophy) and, perhaps, also his (2001) Justice as Fairness: A Restatement).
Theory of Justice itself has become a classic and is quite beyond an Amazon rating. Anyone interested in political philosophy should read it--whether you agree with its thesis or not is an entirely different question.
Theory of Justice itself has become a classic and is quite beyond an Amazon rating. Anyone interested in political philosophy should read it--whether you agree with its thesis or not is an entirely different question.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rawls exposition is clear; He defines Justice as the first virtue of society, and then defines Justice as Fairness, and proceeds from there to a description of a set of formally fair procedures for constructing a just society. Chief among those is his doctrine of "The Original Position", i.e. the situation in which a person takes no thought for personal advantage, including one's own in-born abilities, and then attempts to construct an ethical framework to guide the constitution of society. Although the work is vague, it is because he necessarily works at a very high level of abstraction. I also believe his work is -wrong- (because I think valuing human life is the first virtue of human society, not justice), but it is the clearest description of Kantian analytic social theory ever presented. As such, if it -is- wrong, it is because analytic social theories are wrong as a class, not because Rawls made mistakes. A very good book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A classic! If you are going to read only one book in political philosophy read this one and its revised version. John Rawls's conception of social justice of course is yet to be fully appreciated ( although over 5000 academic papers were published on the themes introduced in this book in the first few years following its publication). Some commentators have placed him next to Aristotle and John Locke and if you like to know why find your answer in a close reading of this marvellous treasure. Some have gone further and suggested for centuries to come the world won't see another great philosopher at his stand. You won't be surprised if you read this book for yourself and find out why there is so much emphasis on this book and its relation to political philosophy and Jurisprudence at present. John Rawls himself was surprised by the huge public reaction and the ever- increased interest generated following the publication of this book considering he was relatively unknown at the time and the discipline of political philosophy was pronounced dead by some of the greatest minds on earth.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Rawls Rocks !!
The ultimate text with regards to the discussion on rights of 'equal justice'. The Rawls approach is a guiding light in terms of the way in which social justice is translated and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lois
I don't have the time for a lengthy description, the star system...
It's too much. I don't have the time for a lengthy description, the star system should be enough. Thank you
Published 21 months ago by claudia
Beyond review
John Rawls' Theory of Justice was the most important work of political philosophy written since Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by Dr. Jeff Gleisner
A conplicated book but an extraordinary research in political...
This book was a best seller by the time of its appearance to the public. Now it is an indispensable tool when researching on international political conflicts in which ethics are... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2010 by Maria L. Pedraza
Even if you disagree with his conclusions you cannot but help think...
This is the only book that has significantly changed my outlook on the world. Using rationality to promote a socialist/liberal ideology is extremely useful in attacking The Right's... Read more
Published on 15 April 2009 by Tom Hepplewhite
Could do with more pictures
In this book Rawls places the notion of justice on a form foundation. While previous thinkers have held that justice is a value to be treasured, Rawls explains not just why justice... Read more
Published on 3 April 2004 by Dan Futter
A brief remark to the previous reviewer
John Rawls' 'A Theory of Justice' is probably the most influential book in contemporary political philosophy. Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2003 by Anders Schoubye
A difficult masterpeice
This is an extremely rich and thoroughly dense work of moral and political philosophy. It is regarded in philosophy departments across the anglo-saxon world as the greatest single... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2003 by J. E. Holden
This classic on moral philosphy is an essential buy.
John Rawls was deservingly noted for his contributions to philosophy with the National Humanities Medal in 1999. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2000 by NA Choudhury
a great theory only...not realistic enough.
I do think John Rawls' theory of the veil of ignorance is a good one, it is a way of setting justice in a society. Read more
Published on 28 July 1999
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