Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.
Philosophers
John Rawls
American political philosopher (1921-2002) whose 1971 A Theory of Justice revived Anglophone political philosophy. His "veil of ignorance" and two principles of justice gave welfare-state liberalism its foundation.
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John Rawls's Other Quotes
Related Quotes
The first duty of justice is to harm no one.
-- Panaetius
The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the conquered cause pleased Cato.
-- Cato the Younger
The capabilities approach starts not from a hypothetical state of nature but from the question: what does a life worthy of human dignity require?
-- Martha Nussbaum
Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society.
-- John Rawls
Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.
-- John Rawls
Deconstruction is justice.
-- Jacques Derrida