A Theory Of Justice

John Rawls draws on the most subtle techniques of contemporary analytic philosophy to provide the social contract tradition with what is, from a philosophical point of view at least, the most formidable defense it has yet received …[and] makes available the powerful intellectual resources and the comprehensive approach that have so far eluded antiutilitarians. — Marshall Cohen New York Times Book Review I mean …to press my recommendation of [this book] to non-philosophers, especially those holding positions of responsibility in law and government. For the topic with which it deals is central to this country’s purposes, and the misunderstanding of that topic is central to its difficulties. — Peter Caws New Republic The most substantial and interesting contribution to moral philosophy since the war. — Stuart Hampshire New York Review of Books

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls’s view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls’s theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls’s work.

John Rawls was James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. He was recipient of the 1999 National Humanities Medal.