ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a conception of justice which generalizes and carries to a higher level of abstraction the familiar theory of the social contract as found, say, in Locke, Rousseau, and Kant. The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. This ensures that no one is advantaged or disadvantaged in the choice of principles by the outcome of natural chance or the contingency of social circumstances. Since all are similarly situated and no one is able to design principles to favor his particular condition, the principles of justice are the result of a fair agreement or bargain. A theory of justice depends upon a theory of society in ways that will become evident as the peoples proceed. For the present, it should be observed that the several principles are a special case of a more general conception of justice. The general conception of justice imposes no restrictions on what sort of inequalities are permissible.
