ABSTRACT

In the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle divides justice into two broad categories: distributive justice and retributive justice. For the J. Rawls of A Theory of Justice, distributive theory can be derived from the decisions of rational agents. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls argues that rather than being derived from conceptions of the good, distributive principles should be neutral toward such conceptions; he argues that the ‘right’ should be given priority over the ‘good’. Externalists typically make the further claim that theories of distributive justice should be derived independently of any theory of the good. Hence, all of distributive justice is derived from the human good. Some philosophers have argued that consequentialist social theory permits counter-intuitive sacrifices of human lives and interests. The value theory from which distributive principles are in part derived, has at its core the Aristotelian notion of well-being. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts in this book.