Justice is the supreme or first virtue of social institutions, occupying a role analogous to truth in systems of thought, such that institutions must be reformed or abolished if unjust, regardless of their efficiency or arrangement.
By John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice
Key Arguments
- Rawls directly analogizes justice to truth in theoretical systems: just as an elegant theory must be rejected if false, efficient institutions must be changed if unjust.
- He asserts that justice is a "first virtue" of institutions, indicating lexical priority over other institutional virtues like efficiency, order, or productivity.
- He maintains that injustices are tolerable, if at all, only to prevent even greater injustices, not for gains in welfare or efficiency, underscoring the uncompromising character of justice.
- He notes that these propositions "seem to express our intuitive conviction of the primacy of justice," appealing to widely shared moral intuitions about the special status of justice.
Source Quotes
Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust.
Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.
The only thing that permits us to acquiesce in an erroneous theory is the lack of a better one; analogously, an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice. Being first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising. These propositions seem to express our intuitive conviction of the primacy of justice.
Being first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising. These propositions seem to express our intuitive conviction of the primacy of justice. No doubt they are expressed too strongly.
Key Concepts
- Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.
- A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust.
- Being first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising.
- These propositions seem to express our intuitive conviction of the primacy of justice.
Context
Opening of §1, where Rawls introduces the normative status of justice in relation to other institutional values and sketches its analogy with truth in theoretical reasoning.