ABSTRACT
Most of the works considered in this chapter appeared during an era of political and social turmoil in the USA. Involvement in an unpopular war and an intensification of domestic unrest produced much ‘soul-searching’, a questioning of the quality of life, the distribution of wealth, and the role of law inAmerican society. Rawls (b 1921), holder of the chair in philosophy at Harvard, produced, in 1971, A Theory of Justice, which called for a new look at the principles of social justice. Nozick (b 1938), who had studied under Rawls, and who also held a chair in philosophy at Harvard, produced, in 1974, Anarchy, State and Utopia, a plea for social libertarianism, based upon an entirely different approach to that taken by Rawls. Both works aroused considerable interest; both exemplify important facets of the continuing concerns of contemporaryAmerican jurisprudence.
Rawls’ theory is based upon three elements: a vision of society as it ought to be; a view of moral theory and its significance; and the derivation of principles which will enable an expression of that vision to be enunciated so as to reflect moral theory. He assumes a society whose members wish to decide a set of principles from which to construct a pattern of social justice. Their principal objective is the building of a well-ordered society which will advance the ‘good’ of its members in accordance with ‘a public conception of justice’.
