The Concept of Equality in John Rawls’s Justice as Fairness
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Abstract
This article examines the concept of equality in the early writings of John Rawls, focusing particularly on his 1958 essay “Justice as Fairness.” While this work is often treated merely as a preliminary step toward the more systematic framework presented in “A Theory of Justice,” this study argues that the earlier essay contains an important conceptual foundation for Rawls’s theory of justice. Using conceptual analysis, the article investigates how equality functions within Rawls’s early formulation of justice as fairness. The analysis demonstrates that equality in the 1958 essay should not be interpreted as equality of economic outcomes; rather, it refers to equality of moral status and procedural conditions among persons who participate in determining principles of justice. Under such conditions, no individual can exploit structural advantages to shape rules in their favor. Equality, therefore, operates both as a moral starting point and as a structural constraint that determines when social inequalities can be considered legitimate. The article also engages with interpretations and critiques by scholars such as Brian Barry and G. A. Cohen while connecting the discussion to broader debates about equality and public policy, including insights from Amartya Sen. The study concludes that a close reading of Rawls’s 1958 essay reveals the structural role of equality as the normative foundation of justice as fairness and provides a valuable framework for contemporary discussions on equality and the legitimacy of inequality in democratic societies.
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References
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