John Rawls

This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls who was perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Rawls''s 1971 treatise A Theory of Justice stimulated an outpouring of commentary on ''justice-as-fairness'' his conception of justice for an ideal self-contained modern political society. Most of that commentary took Rawls to be defending welfare-state capitalism as found in Western Europe and the United States. Far less attention has been given to Rawls''s 2001 book Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. In the Restatement Rawls not only substantially reformulates the ''original position'' argument for the two principles of justice-as-fairness but also repudiates capitalist regimes as possible embodiments. Edmundson further develops Rawls''s non-ideal theory which guides us when we find ourselves in a society that falls well short of justice.