New Releases by John Rawls

Andrea Booker continues to endure life''s struggles. Although she now has help from a loving family and a best friend that she could previously have only dreamed of, some of her difficulties are innately personal. One of her biggest challenges is the acceptance of herself, which naturally includes her alter ego--Miss Mighty. Could an inner conviction outweigh all of the negativity that she has heard, and continues to hear? Will she have the strength to bear the burden inherent with superhero fandom? Will the introduction of a new superhero give her the perfect excuse to stop being Miss Mighty? Is Miss Mighty gone for good? Join the unassuming ten-year-old on the next stage of her life''s journey and adventure.

Since when is it okay to hire a fifteen-year-old tenth-grader to lead a criminal investigation? Yet, this is exactly what happens to John, who finds that he is in for a lot more than he would have ever thought possible.John is the lowliest of the low. Rejected by many on account of his birth defect, he is used to being overlooked. Imagine his shock when someone comes looking for him-and only him-because he had specifically been chosen! But is it all too good to be true? The stranger speaks of a place called Toyland, whose King supposedly wants John''s help. Would John have the courage to believe that such a place exists? Is it possible that he, an inexperienced high-schooler, could lead a successful investigation? Will he ever discover the truth behind all of the strange goings-on?John John as he embarks on the greatest adventure, and the greatest mystery, of his lifetime.

Mars 1991 : John Rawls répond à trois de ses étudiants dans son bureau à Harvard. Cet entretien constitue un exemple unique d''autobiographie intellectuelle par un auteur peu enclin à parler de lui-même. Vingt ans après la parution de la Théorie de la justice, il revient sur l''évolution de sa pensée à partir d''une vision de la philosophie comme "discipline conversationnelle". Rawls nous livre ici, sur un ton familier, sa conception de la philosophie politique comme contribution à la critique des injustices.

Teoría de la justicia, algunas objeciones y otras posiciones, especialmente el utilitarismo, aplicada a la base filosófica de las libertades constitucionales, el problema de la justicia distributiva y la definición del ámbito y los límites del deber político y la obligación. Incluye un análisis de la desobediencia civil y la objeción al reclutamiento por motivos de conciencia. Además, relaciona la teoría de la justicia con una doctrina del bien y del desarrollo moral.

Pocas obras de filosofía política o moral han producido en lo que va de siglo un impacto comparable al de Una Teoría de la Justicia de John Rawls. Desde su aparición en 1971 ha sido objeto de un estudio masivo, convirtiéndose en el centro de buena parte de las discusiones actuales sobre problemas de filosofía moral y política. El pensamiento de Rawls ha inyectado nueva vitalidad a la tradición del contrato social de los siglos XVII y XVIII, y constituye un ambicioso intento de elaborar una teoría coherente sobre las bases de legitimación de un régimen democrático, en la que se armonizan exigencias de libertad, igualdad y solidaridad. Como alternativa al utilitarismo, dominante en el mundo anglosajón, Rawls defiende una concepción de la justicia que se inscribe dentro de la tradición del pensamiento liberal. Pero, integrando en ella un fuerte ingrediente igualitario, de distancia de las corrientes neoliberales conservadoras que han empezado a proliferar al calor de la crisis del llamado «Estado del bienestar». La teoría rawlsiana es una obra de larga gestación. Los ensayos aquí reunidos documentan el proceso de formación de la teoría y constituyen piezas indispensables para la correcta interpretación del pensamiento del autor. Junto a artículos como «Justicia como equidad», «El sentido de la Justicia» y «Justicia distributiva», que desempeñaron un papel decisivo en la gestación de Una Teoría de la Justicia, otros más recientes, como el importantísimo dedicado al «Constructivismo kantiano», proporcionan una suerte de autorreflexión del autor en la perspectiva adecuada. El volumen se completa con un estudio introductorio y una relación de los escritos de Rawls, además de una selección de la abundantísima literatura existente sobre su pensamiento. Para esta nueva edición se ha revisado la traducción, se ha completado la bibliografía, y se ha agregado un epílogo del traductor dando cuenta del desarrollo del pensamiento de J. Rawls a partir de A Theory of Justice.

Le Lezioni si basano sulle dispense e sulle annotazioni per il corso di Filosofia politica moderna che John Rawls tenne all’Università di Harvard a partire dalla metà degli anni sessanta fino al suo ritiro dall’insegnamento, nel 1991. Rawls vi discute le concezioni dei fondatori del pensiero politico moderno: Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Mill e Marx. Lo scopo che Rawls si prefigge è quello di enucleare le idee che caratterizzano il liberalismo come teoria politica della giustizia. Il suo punto di partenza sono le teorie del contratto sociale, discute poi le obiezioni di Hume a tali teorie e presenta un’analisi dettagliata della versione non contrattualistica di Mill, per concludere con l’esame della critica marxiana al capitalismo liberale. Oltre a essere un eccellente manuale di storia della filosofia politica moderna, le Lezioni offrono a Rawls l’opportunità di operare un confronto sistematico tra la propria teoria e le concezioni morali della tradizione filosofica. Proprio questa caratteristica delle Lezioni consente a quanti sono già familiari con il pensiero di Rawls di scoprirne i nessi con i temi che egli esplora. In questo senso le Lezioni sono uno strumento indispensabile per la conoscenza del maggior teorico politico del Novecento.

John Rawls never published anything about his own religious beliefs, but after his death two texts were discovered which shed extraordinary light on the subject. A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith is Rawls’s undergraduate senior thesis, submitted in December 1942, just before he entered the army. At that time Rawls was deeply religious; the thesis is a significant work of theological ethics, of interest both in itself and because of its relation to his mature writings. “On My Religion,” a short statement drafted in 1997, describes the history of his religious beliefs and attitudes toward religion, including his abandonment of orthodoxy during World War II. The present volume includes these two texts, together with an Introduction by Joshua Cohen and Thomas Nagel, which discusses their relation to Rawls’s published work, and an essay by Robert Merrihew Adams, which places the thesis in its theological context. The texts display the profound engagement with religion that forms the background of Rawls’s later views on the importance of separating religion and politics. Moreover, the moral and social convictions that the thesis expresses in religious form are related in illuminating ways to the central ideas of Rawls’s later writings. His notions of sin, faith, and community are simultaneously moral and theological, and prefigure the moral outlook found in Theory of Justice.

Le theme de la religion occupe une place essentielle dans la pensee politique et morale de John Rawls, dont l'oeuvre cherche a comprendre comment des personnes aux croyances inconciliables peuvent neanmoins vivre ensemble dans une societe juste. Deux textes decouverts apres la mort du philosophe (introduits ici par Robert Adams, Joshua Cohen et Thomas Nagel) apportent un eclairage nouveau sur cet aspect de son oeuvre. Le premier, Une breve enquete sur la signification du peche et de la foi, est un essai de theologie morale, redige en 1942 alors que le jeune Rawls envisageait la pretrise. Affirmant la nature communautaire des personnes, il y definit le peche comme le rejet de la communaute et recuse toute vision de la societe comme un contrat. Le second, Sur ma religion, est un texte personnel redige cinquante ans plus tard, qui retrace l'evolution religieuse de Rawls et son eloignement du christianisme apres sa participation a la Deuxieme Guerre mondiale. Dans sa postface, Jurgen Habermas analyse la signification de l'ethique religieuse du jeune Rawls pour sa theorie politique.

Remarks on political philosophy -- Lectures on Hobbes -- Lectures on Locke -- Lectures on Hume -- Lectures on Rousseau -- Lectures on Mill -- Lectures on Marx.

Este libro tiene su origen en las clases de filosofía política que Rawls impartía regularmente en Harvard en la década de 1980. Con el tiempo, las clases se convirtieron en una reformulación de su teoría de la justicia como equidad, revisada a la luz de sus artículos más recientes y de su tratado El liberalismo político (1993). Como escribe Rawls en el prefacio, la reformulación presenta «en un único lugar una exposición de la justicia como equidad tal como la entiendo ahora, apoyándome en todos esos trabajos». El libro ofrece una amplia visión de sus principales líneas de pensamiento y explora asimismo temas específicos que nunca fueron abordados en ninguno de sus escritos. Rawls es consciente de que, desde la publicación de la Teoría de la justicia en 1971, la sociedad se ha alejado aún más de la idea de la justicia como equidad. Sus ideas conservan, empero, todo su vigor y relevancia para los debates de una sociedad pluralista en torno al significado y la viabilidad teórica del liberalismo. Este libro demuestra que puede alcanzarse la claridad moral aun cuando el compromiso colectivo con la justicia sea incierto.

John Rawls aims to express an essential part of the common core of the democratic tradition—justice as fairness—and to provide an alternative to utilitarianism, which had dominated the Anglo-Saxon tradition of political thought since the nineteenth century. Rawls substitutes the ideal of the social contract as a more satisfactory account of the basic rights and liberties of citizens as free and equal persons. “Each person,” writes Rawls, “possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.” Advancing the ideas of Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, and Lincoln, Rawls’s theory is as powerful today as it was when first published. Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls’s view, much of the extensive literature on his theory refers to the original. This first edition is available for scholars and serious students of Rawls’s work.

Welche Bedingungen lassen Völker gerecht und friedlich zusammenleben? Unter welchen Umständen sind Kriege gerechtfertigt? Welche Leitlinien müssen gegeben sein für Organisationen, die eine gerechte Gesellschaft von Völkern mit gleichen Rechten herzustellen vermögen? In acht Grundsätzen für eine gerechte internationale Ordnung entwickelt der amerikanische Philosoph John Rawls einen hypothetischen "Vertrag der Gesellschaft der Völker". Das jüngste Buch von John Rawls ist nach A Theory of Justice 1971, dt. 1975) und Political Liberalism (1993, dt. 1998) ein weiteres wichtiges Werk des bedeutenden amerikanischen Philosophen. Die Originalausgabe (The Law of Peoples, 1999) hat zu heftigen Kontroversen geführt.

This book originated as lectures for a course on political philosophy that Rawls taught regularly at Harvard in the 1980s. In time the lectures became a restatement of his theory of justice as fairness, revised in light of his more recent papers and his treatise Political Liberalism (1993). As Rawls writes in the preface, the restatement presents "in one place an account of justice as fairness as I now see it, drawing on all [my previous] works." He offers a broad overview of his main lines of thought and also explores specific issues never before addressed in any of his writings. Rawls is well aware that since the publication of A Theory of Justice in 1971, American society has moved farther away from the idea of justice as fairness. Yet his ideas retain their power and relevance to debates in a pluralistic society about the meaning and theoretical viability of liberalism. This book demonstrates that moral clarity can be achieved even when a collective commitment to justice is uncertain.

John Rawls’s work on justice has drawn more commentary and aroused wider attention than any other work in moral or political philosophy in the twentieth century. Rawls is the author of two major treatises, A Theory of Justice (1971) and Political Liberalism (1993); it is said that A Theory of Justice revived political philosophy in the English-speaking world. But before and after writing his great treatises Rawls produced a steady stream of essays. Some of these essays articulate views of justice and liberalism distinct from those found in the two books. They are important in and of themselves because of the deep issues about the nature of justice, moral reasoning, and liberalism they raise as well as for the light they shed on the evolution of Rawls’s views. Some of the articles tackle issues not addressed in either book. They help identify some of the paths open to liberal theorists of justice and some of the knotty problems which liberal theorists must seek to resolve. A complete collection of John Rawls’s essays is long overdue.

Este libro esta dividido en dos partes. La revision de "La idea de razon publica," publicada en 1997, supone una minuciosa reelaboracion de un texto mucho mas breve que el autor presento por primera vez cuatro anos antes, en 1993, y es la culminacion de sus ideas sobre el liberalismo en su relacion con algunos de los problemas mas acuciantes de nuestro tiempo. En su version definitiva, el articulo en cuestion expone el modo en que las limitaciones de la razon publica pueden explicarse debidamente atendiendo a conceptos tanto religiosos como no religiosos. Se trata de un detallado relato acerca de las modernas democracias constitucionales, basadas en una concepcion politica liberal, y su aceptacion por parte de ciertos ciudadanos que no tolerarian doctrinas de ese tipo en campos como la religion, la filosofia o la moral. "El derecho de gentes," por su parte, parte de la idea del contrato social y establece los principios generales que pueden y deben ser aceptados por sociedades tanto liberales como no liberales como norma general para sus interrelaciones. En concreto, el texto traza una distincion crucial entre los derechos humanos basicos y los derechos de los ciudadanos de una democracia liberal y constitucional. Tambien explora los terminos segun los cuales una sociedad de este tipo puede declarar "justamente" la guerra a otra que no se atenga a esos principios y, en fin, debate los presupuestos morales adecuados que pueden servir como base para prestar ayuda a ciertas sociedades no liberales sometidas a condiciones politicas y economicas claramente desfavorables.

LIBÉRALISME Politique est le manifeste d'une philosophie politique et morale qui cherche à concilier les deux termes antagonistes de la modernité : la liberté des individus et la nécessité de leur coopération équitable au sein des institutions politiques. Dans ce livre qui fait suite à la Théorie de la justice - ouvrage dont le retentissement fut immense -, John Rawls renouvelle profondément le sens et la portée de sa conception de la justice à la lumière de ce qu'il appelle " le fait du pluralisme ". L'existence avérée d'une pluralité de convictions raisonnables mais incompatibles, en laquelle l'auteur reconnaît la donnée la plus problématique des sociétés contemporaines, ne remet pas en cause l'existence d'une société bien ordonnée. Mais celle-ci doit être conçue comme une société unifiée non par ses convictions morales, mais par sa conception politique de la justice, source d'un consensus qui ne se réduit pas à un simple modus vivendi. La divergence des idéaux moraux et des horizons culturels n'empêche pas la reconnaissance et l'acceptation des mêmes principes de justice et l'exercice d'une raison publique commune. Libéralisme politique s'inscrit dans la tradition de défense du principe de tolérance et des libertés fondamentales.

The premier political philosopher of his day, John Rawls, in three decades of teaching at Harvard, has had a profound influence on the way philosophical ethics is approached and understood today. This book brings together the lectures that inspired a generation of students--and a regeneration of moral philosophy. It invites readers to learn from the most noted exemplars of modern moral philosophy with the inspired guidance of one of contemporary philosophy''s most noteworthy practitioners and teachers. Central to Rawls''s approach is the idea that respectful attention to the great texts of our tradition can lead to a fruitful exchange of ideas across the centuries. In this spirit, his book engages thinkers such as Leibniz, Hume, Kant, and Hegel as they struggle in brilliant and instructive ways to define the role of a moral conception in human life. The lectures delineate four basic types of moral reasoning: perfectionism, utilitarianism, intuitionism, and--the ultimate focus of Rawls''s course--Kantian constructivism. Comprising a superb course on the history of moral philosophy, they also afford unique insight into how John Rawls has transformed our view of this history.

The essays in this volume offer an approach to the history of moral and political philosophy that takes its inspiration from John Rawls. The distinctive feature of this approach is to address substantive normative questions in moral and political philosophy through an analysis of the texts and theories of major figures in the history of the subject: Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, and Marx. By reconstructing the core of these theories in a way that is informed by contemporary theoretical concerns, the contributors show how the history of the subject is a resource for understanding present and perennial problems in moral and political philosophy.