Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Theory of Justice

Mains level: Principle of Justice

This newscard is an excerpt of the original article published in TH.

Note: This article is of extreme theoretical nature. But it leaves scope for many vague questions for prelims as well as mains where most of us go clueless.

Two principles of Justice

The concept, so-called, of “two principles of justice”, is synonymous with the name of John Rawls, a highly influential American liberal political philosopher of the last century.
The concept of two principles forms an encapsulation of the core principles of:
Freedom and equality embodied in the constitutions of any contemporary liberal democratic society
As such, they have acquired pre-eminence in a wide range of academic disciplines and in the arena of public policymaking.

What are the two principles?

The first of Rawls’ two principles says that every citizen has the same claim to a scheme of equal basic liberties, which must also be compatible with those of every other citizen.
It enumerates an extensive list of basic civil and political rights, including a person’s freedom of conscience, expression and association; the right to a basic income; and the right to exercise the franchise.
Their resonance with the practical world of politics needs no emphasis; consider the chapter on fundamental rights in any constitution.
The second of Rawls’ two principles grapples with the underlying inequalities of social and economic institutions.

How can these be reasonably justified to free and equal citizens?

In order to be morally defensible, the institutions must satisfy two conditions.

First, they must guarantee fair equality of opportunities for competition to positions of public office and employment.
Second, social and economic inequalities must be arranged in a manner that they work to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society.

This latter postulate is Rawls’ famous “difference principle”.

Significance of this principle

The political significance of Rawls’ two principles of justice obtains equally in the relative weight and primacy he assigns to their different components.
Between them, the first principle is accorded absolute priority over the second.
That is to say, the primacy of the equal basic liberties of citizens is non-negotiable in a democratic society.
The entitlement of each to the various liberties is as critical as they are universal and non-discriminatory.
Within the second principle, the first part takes precedence over the second.
In other words, public institutions could not appear legitimate in the eyes of citizens unless everybody could reasonably expect to enjoy the fruits of fair equality of opportunities.

Try this question from CSP 2020:

Q. One common agreement between Gandhism and Marxism is

(a) The final goal of a stateless society

(b) Class struggle

(c) Abolition of private property

(d) Economic determinism

Post your answers here.
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