Justice & Fairness:

Promoting the
Common Good
The Nature of the Theory
 John Rawls
• The first and unique contributor to the study of
Ethics.
• Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University
• He develop the “The Theory of the Good as
Justice and Justice conceived as Fairness.
• Justice means giving each person what he or
she deserves or, in more traditional terms, giving
each person his or her due.
Three Kinds of Justice
COMPENSATORY JUSTICE

Refers to the just way of

compensating people for what
they lost as a result of wrongful
actions done on them.
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

Refers to the just imposition of

punishments and penalties on those
guilty of performing wrongful acts.
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

Refers to the just distribution of benefits

(such as rights & socioeconomic
goods) and burdens (such as sacrifice
and obligations).
 a) Egalitarianism

• This theory claims that a certain distribution is

just if every member of a group receives an
equal share of the distribution. On the level
of states (or governmental) distributions.
b) Capitalist Justice

• This theory claims that a certain

distribution is just if every member of
a group receives his or her share in
the distribution according to or in
proportion to his or her contribution
to the success of the goals of the
group.
c) Socialist Justice

This theory claims that a certain

distribution is just if every member of
the group receives his or her share in
the distribution according to or in
proportion to his or her needs