Theories Of Social Justice

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Justice is one of the fundamental values in Political Science. In the words of Rawls' it is the 'the first virtue of social institutions' (3). This is perhaps because every individual person possesses a sanctity founded on Justice that even the benefit of the collective (in which he or she exists) as a whole cannot countermand. This is evident in almost every aspect of our day to day lives. Our demands to eat what we want/ dress as per what appeals to us/ study what we wish to and so on are all based on an almost inherent understanding that we should be allowed to choose from all the options available to everyone else because it seems "fair" or rather just. The right to be seen, the wish to be heard, the demand to be treated with the same…show more content…
Some of the theories he is disapproving of are those such as Utilitarianism which appears to benefit the majority at the cost of the minorities and is based on the principle of maximum advantage for the maximum number and Intuitionism which is based on the decisions made by an inherent sense of what is right and wrong and thus propagates an attitude of 'know it when see it' and fails to deal with conflicting human intuitions. Rawls thus attempts to create his own sound account of social Justice through the extension of the principle of the Social Contract. He postulates 'Justice as Fairness' and goes on to establish the 'Principles of Justice' through the 'Veil of Ignorance' and the 'Original Position' and on the basis of these principles he tries to sketch the fundamental terms of association (which would in turn regulate all further arrangements) in a just society. He also discusses the implications of his view of Justice on the social institutions through detailed analysis of concepts like equal liberty, economic distribution and the distribution of other benefits and burdens. Thus he succeeds in creating a theory of justice that seems to revolve around an egalitarian conception of Justice and…show more content…
It is imperative here to remember that while the sphere of laws is an important aspect of Procedural Justice, it is not confined only to it. In the words of Donald N. McCloskey, "The doctrine that justice is not fairness of outcome but fairness of arriving at that outcome is procedural justice" (1). Therefore, while substantive justice deal with laying down the principles which ensure that all outcomes are just, procedural justice deals with the mechanisms, institutions and all other apparatus that is needed to ensure that the means employed to ensure the outcome as just are just in

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