Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- 195 Sandel, Michael
- 196 Scanlon, T. M.
- 197 Self-interest
- 198 Self-respect
- 199 Sen, Amartya
- 200 Sense of justice
- 201 Sidgwick, Henry
- 202 Sin
- 203 Social choice theory
- 204 Social contract
- 205 Social minimum
- 206 Social union
- 207 Socialism
- 208 Society of peoples
- 209 Soper, Philip
- 210 Sovereignty
- 211 Stability
- 212 Statesman and duty of statesmanship
- 213 Strains of commitment
- 214 Supreme Court and judicial review
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
212 - Statesman and duty of statesmanship
from S
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- 195 Sandel, Michael
- 196 Scanlon, T. M.
- 197 Self-interest
- 198 Self-respect
- 199 Sen, Amartya
- 200 Sense of justice
- 201 Sidgwick, Henry
- 202 Sin
- 203 Social choice theory
- 204 Social contract
- 205 Social minimum
- 206 Social union
- 207 Socialism
- 208 Society of peoples
- 209 Soper, Philip
- 210 Sovereignty
- 211 Stability
- 212 Statesman and duty of statesmanship
- 213 Strains of commitment
- 214 Supreme Court and judicial review
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Justice as fairness makes moral demands on all citizens. For example, Rawls holds that there are natural duties on all individuals that include, among others, duties “not to harm or injure another,” “not to cause unnecessary suffering,” and “to support and to comply with just institutions that exist and apply to us” (TJ 98, 99). But justice as fairness also holds that when individuals accept certain positions with special responsibility and authority, they put themselves under obligations that are more demanding than the moral requirements that apply to ordinary citizens (TJ 97). As an exercise in ideal theory, justice as fairness assumes that all individuals have a sense of justice (and are motivated to comply with it) at least above a certain minimal threshold. In this respect, they are all equal. However, even as part of ideal theory, Rawls notes that “individuals presumably have varying capacities for a sense of justice” above this threshold (TJ 443). And a higher-than-ordinary sensitivity to concerns of justice may be a qualiication for certain social positions.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 811 - 812Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014