Affirmative Action in Brazilian Higher Public Education and John Rawls

This work seeks to clarify the relationship between the philosophy of John Rawls and affirmative action in access to public higher education institutions. The question is whether or not Justice as Fairness legitimises the policy of educational quotas. To this end its main theoretical points are outlined and the concept of affirmative action adopted is presented linking them. The initial understanding of Justice as Fairness is fundamental to understanding the rest of the presentation. An argument is made to distinguish each of the layers of affirmative action presented combining them with both ideal and non-ideal theories. From this contrast the conditions and philosophical justification for certain levels of affirmative action can be found. Finally having clarified the categories of affirmative action that Egalitarian Liberalism considers morally justifiable a brief comment is made on Brazilian social quotas. For this purpose the parameters are those of Law No. 12.711/2012 which provides for quotas within the scope of admission to universities and federal technical education institutions at secondary level.