Justice as Fairness or as Acknowledging the Good in Others

Abstract

The current resonance that Rawls' Theory of Justice is having seems to indicate that this theory is appropriate as a practical solution to the problem of pluralism on the different conceptions of life that characterize democratic societies. The starting point from which the theory parts is subordinate to the objective of reaching an agreement, rather than responding to a common good. Thus, procedural systems are given primacy, as they strive to determine the social structure by justice alone. Justice is seen, therefore, not so much as a virtue of the subject, but as a correct social order that guarantees an equality of possibilities through a procedural channel. However, ignoring the issue of what is good and the right that one has over it, the Theory of Justice contradicts the intrinsic rationality of social relations, since such relations are based on the communication of specific goods. That is why there is a supremacy of good over justice.