A Theory of Justice: Rawls’ political philosophy’s contribution to legal theory

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5902/2179378667516

Keywords:

Rawls, Justice, Law, Democracy

Abstract

The present paper addresses the relevance of justice to the critique and justification of Law as a form of structuring social institutions. Having A Theory of Justice (TJ) as its focus, it asks: how does Rawls employ juridical concepts? The goal is to dialogue with the central aspects of Rawls’ work seeking to understand what role Law performs in the argument for justice as fairness.  To accomplish that, first, the general aims Rawls has in mind in setting forth his conception of justice are presented. Next, his use of juridical concepts is linked with the particular goals of each of TJ’s three subparts, so as to emphasize how helpful justice as fairness and normative political theory might be to lawyers. Following those steps, the hypothesis to be defended is: Law is central in Rawls’ theory of justice. As an entailment of the latter, it is defended that to support his central argument and to develop its core conceptual features Rawls had to appeal to juridical concepts

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Author Biographies

Bruno Camilloto, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil

Professor of Law at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP) in the undergraduate and postgraduate programs (New Rights, New Subjects). Doctor in Law from the Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC-MG). Master in Law from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). Specialist in Public Management and Bachelor of Laws from UFOP.

Pedro Urashima, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil

Doctoral student in Law at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in the area of ​​study in Philosophy of Law; Theory of Law, Theory of Action and Philosophy of Language

Eduarda Landin, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil

Law student at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP). Researcher of scientific initiation in the field of Theory of Law with a focus on the work of John Rawls

References

CAMILLOTO, B. Direito & Política: A República, o Judiciário e a Politização. Belo Horizonte: Conhecimento Livraria e Distribuidora, 2019.

FREEMAN, S. Justice and the social contract: Essays on Rawlsian Political Philosophy. New York: Oxford, 2007.

HART, H. L. A . The Concept of Law. 2ndEd. With a postscript edited by Penelope A. Bulloch and Joseph Raz. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

RAWLS, J. A theory of justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.

RAWLS, J. História da filosofia moral. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2005.

RAWLS, J. Justiça como equidade:uma reformulação. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2003.

RAWLS, J. Preface for the French Edition of A Theory of Justice (1987). In: S. Freeman (ed.) Collected Papers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999, p. 415-421.

RAWLS, J. Two concepts of rules. In: S. Freeman (ed.) Collected Papers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999, p. 20-46.

RAWLS, J. Uma Teoria da Justiça. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2008.

VITA, A. Por que uma teoria ideal da justiça? (comunicação oral) Cátedra Serra de Minas. Belo Horizonte, 2020. Disponível em: https://youtu.be/JAJ5YiY3bMk.

WENAR, L. John Rawls: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Disponível em: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/rawls/.

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Published

2022-09-13 — Updated on 2022-09-13

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How to Cite

Camilloto, B., Urashima, P., & Landin, E. (2022). A Theory of Justice: Rawls’ political philosophy’s contribution to legal theory. Voluntas: International Journal of Philosophy, 13(1), e3. https://doi.org/10.5902/2179378667516

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2022): 50 years of John Rawls' Theory of Justice Dossier - Ed. 30

Section

Dossiê 50 anos da Teoria da Justiça de John Rawls

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