Single Idea 21041

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice]

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?