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?