Can Rawls’ Theory of Distributive Justice Become a Cure for Poverty?

Yıl 2022, Sayı: 71, 539 - 565, 31.12.2022

Ülker Yükselbaba

https://doi.org/10.26650/annales.2022.71.0010

Öz

Rawls, a leading thinker of our time, attempted to develop an understanding of justice that reconciles liberty and equality in his work A Theory of Justice (1971). Rawls constantly revised his theory of justice and took it to an international level with The Law of Peoples. A Theory of Justice was met with great interest, but it was also heavily criticized. The aim of this paper is first to review Rawls’ A Theory of Justice in broad terms and then to present the objections raised. Ultimately, the goal is to present my objections based on the impossibility of the Rawlsian theory of justice with some examples. Specifically, examples of the widening gap between the poor and the rich under Covid-19 conditions and the enormous increase in the incomes of the rich are addressed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Distributive Justice, Justice as Fairness, Original Position, Veil of Ignorance, Capitalism, The Difference Principle, Equal Opportunity

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