Reading Questions:
John Rawls - The Liberal Answer

1. Rawls says, "in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled." What does he mean by this?
2. Rawls wants to talk about a social contract that is comparable to the contracts Hobbes and Locke talked about as formative of particular societies or governments. How is the social contract that Rawls discusses different?
3. Explain Rawl's notion of the "original position".  What is it? What is it supposed to be like for those in the original position? What purpose does it serve in his view?
4. According to Rawls, why should people not actually in the original position accept the principles that would be agreed upon in the original position?
5. What assumptions does Rawls make about the basic nature of people "in" the original position?
6. Would Rawl's theory of justice require everyone to have basically the same amount of income and wealth? Why/Why not?
7. According to Rawls, what sorts of things are inlcuded in the basic rights of citizenship?
8. What is injustice according to Rawls?
9. What is the maximin principle that Rawls describes? (Note: there are typos in Pojman page 510. Decision d3 should read "5, 6, 8" instead of "-5, 6, 18".)
10. In what sort of situations should one consider choosing according to the maximin rule?
11. Do you think that a society that adopted Rawls' two principles of justice would be just? Can you think of problems with adopting these principles?