John Rawls's A Theory of Justice
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2021
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice, John Rawls argued that just societies should allow everyone to enjoy basic liberties while limiting inequality and improving the lives of the least well off. He argued that "the fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have". Anne McElvoy discusses how his case for a liberal egalitarianism has fared since.
Teresa Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory and Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. Her current work focuses on equality. Her first book, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration was published in 2017.
Jonathan Floyd is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Bristol. His work focuses on he way in which we justify political principles and reflective equilibrium - the relationship between political theory and practical reason. His book include: Political Philosophy versus History? (2011); and, Is Political Philosophy Impossible? (2017); What's the point of political philosophy? (2019).
Rupert Read is Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia. He has written about environmental ethics, scientism and the precautionary principle. In addition to his academic work he is an environmental activist and a former national spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. His latest book is Parents for a Future.
Producer: Ruth Watts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
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| 0:32.8 | Hello, I'm Anne McHlevoy, and in this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast, we'll be talking about a book which gave birth to modern political philosophy. |
| 0:41.8 | John Rawls's A Theory of Justice was published 50 years ago, so why is it still so influential? |
| 0:49.4 | Stay listening to find out after this short message. |
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| 1:30.6 | Since John Rawls's A Theory of Justice was published 50 years ago, it's become part of the |
| 1:36.8 | intellectual furniture in the teaching of political philosophy and theory. The Harvard academic |
| 1:42.5 | has been credited with re-establishing the discipline of political philosophy and theory. The Harvard academic has been credited with re-establishing the discipline |
| 1:45.7 | of political philosophy and setting its parameters as a reference point for practical politics |
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