A critical assessment of John Rawls’s Theory of Justice as fairness

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2019

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Eryılmaz, Ene

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This dissertation is a critical analysis of John Rawls’s theory of justice in its historical and philosophical context. To that end, his works from A Theory of Justice (1971) to Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001) are examined. Not only Rawls’s theory of justice but also his approach to metaphysics and metaethics are also tackled to understand justice as fairness deeply. While setting out Rawls’s main arguments and theses, a critical approach is adopted with his foremost critics. This study thus searches for answers to the questions such as whether Rawls’s theory is workable, what does he precisely defends, what does he aim at with justice as fairness, and whether it is consistent or not. Unfortunately, it is seen that Rawls fails to propose a coherent egalitarian as well as liberal theory of justice. Hence, he could not reconcile the ideas of freedom and equality.

Subject Keywords

Free will and determinism., John Rawls, Justice as Fairness, Egalitarian Liberalism, Social Contract, Distributive Justice.

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http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12623340/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/43642

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

E. Eryılmaz, “A critical assessment of John Rawls’s Theory of Justice as fairness,” Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Graduate School of Social Sciences. Philosophy., Middle East Technical University, 2019.