A Theory of Justice

A Theory of Justice is a book of political and moral philosophy by John Rawls. It was originally published in 1971 and revised in 1975 (for the translated editions) and in 1999. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls lays out his own moral theory, called "Justice as Fairness", and his two famous principles of justice, the liberty principle and the difference principle.

Relationship to Rawls's Later Work

Although Rawls never retreated from the core argument of A Theory of Justice, he modified his theory substantially in subsequent works. The discussion in this entry is limited to his views as they stood in A Theory of Justice, which stands on its own as an important (if controversial and much criticized) work of political philosophy. His subsequent work is discussed in the entry titled John Rawls.

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