Applying Rawls in the Twenty-First Century : Race, Gender, the Drug War, and the Right to Die

John Rawls was the most influential political thinker of the twentieth century. This book applies his theory of justice to four perennial matters of concern that remain contested in the twenty-first century. Drawing surprising implications, this book deepens our understanding of these issues and points the way toward rational, just policy reform.

John Rawls is the most influential political thinker of the twentieth century. Most of the scholarly literature on Rawls defends, critiques, or elaborates on some aspect of his theory. These writings are often valuable, yet this book goes beyond them. Like a few scholars, rather than debating whether and how Rawls got things right or wrong, Martin Carcieri take his well-defended principles of justice - especially the equal liberty, fair equality of opportunity, and difference principles at the core of his theory - as given and apply them to aspects of four major, enduring, concrete domestic policy, ethical, and constitutional issues. These applications yield counter-intuitive implications that will challenge the ideological left and right alike, contributing to our understanding both of Rawls and of these issues. At the core, this book deepens our understanding of these issues and points the way toward rational, just policy reform.