Full Idea
The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.
Gist of Idea
Justice concerns not natural distributions, or our born location, but what we do about them
Source
John Rawls (A Theory of Justice [1972], 17)
Book Reference
Rawls,John: 'A Theory of Justice' [OUP 1978], p.102
A Reaction
Lovely quotation. There is no point in railing against the given, and that includes what is given by history, as well as what is given by nature. It comes down to intervening, in history and in nature. How much intervention will individuals tolerate?