Self‑respect (self‑esteem) is perhaps the most important primary good and has two aspects—a secure s… — John Rawls

Self‑respect (self‑esteem) is perhaps the most important primary good and has two aspects—a secure sense that one’s rational life‑plan is worth carrying out and confidence in one’s capacity to fulfill it—such that without self‑respect all activity becomes empty and the parties in the original position would seek to avoid social conditions that undermine it and therefore favor justice as fairness, which better supports self‑esteem than rival principles.

By John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice

Key Arguments

Rawls explicitly defines self‑respect as having two aspects: 'it includes a person’s sense of his own value, his secure conviction that his conception of his good, his plan of life, is worth carrying out. And second, self-respect implies a confidence in one’s ability, so far as it is within one’s power, to fulfill one’s intentions.'
He argues that without self‑respect, we cannot take pleasure in or persist with our plans: 'When we feel that our plans are of little value, we cannot pursue them with pleasure or take delight in their execution. Nor plagued by failure and self-doubt can we continue in our endeavors.'
He draws the existential consequence: 'Without it nothing may seem worth doing, or if some things have value for us, we lack the will to strive for them. All desire and activity becomes empty and vain, and we sink into apathy and cynicism.'
Hence self‑respect’s status as a primary good: 'It is clear then why self-respect is a primary good.'
He infers how parties in the original position will reason: 'Therefore the parties in the original position would wish to avoid at almost any cost the social conditions that undermine self-respect.'
He claims that justice as fairness is superior to alternatives in this respect: 'The fact that justice as fairness gives more support to self-esteem than other principles is a strong reason for them to adopt it.'
This fits his general methodology where primary goods are those things 'it is rational to want whatever else is wanted' and that the parties are assumed to care about in the original position; self‑respect is singled out as 'perhaps the most important primary good.'

Source Quotes

On several occasions I have mentioned that perhaps the most important primary good is that of self-respect. We must make sure that the conception of goodness as rationality explains why this should be so.

We must make sure that the conception of goodness as rationality explains why this should be so. We may define self-respect (or self-esteem) as having two aspects. First of all, as we noted earlier (§29), it includes a person’s sense of his own value, his secure conviction that his conception of his good, his plan of life, is worth carrying out.

We may define self-respect (or self-esteem) as having two aspects. First of all, as we noted earlier (§29), it includes a person’s sense of his own value, his secure conviction that his conception of his good, his plan of life, is worth carrying out. And second, self-respect implies a confidence in one’s ability, so far as it is within one’s power, to fulfill one’s intentions.

First of all, as we noted earlier (§29), it includes a person’s sense of his own value, his secure conviction that his conception of his good, his plan of life, is worth carrying out. And second, self-respect implies a confidence in one’s ability, so far as it is within one’s power, to fulfill one’s intentions. When we feel that our plans are of little value, we cannot pursue them with pleasure or take delight in their execution.

It is clear then why self-respect is a primary good. Without it nothing may seem worth doing, or if some things have value for us, we lack the will to strive for them. All desire and activity becomes empty and vain, and we sink into apathy and cynicism. Therefore the parties in the original position would wish to avoid at almost any cost the social conditions that undermine self-respect.

All desire and activity becomes empty and vain, and we sink into apathy and cynicism. Therefore the parties in the original position would wish to avoid at almost any cost the social conditions that undermine self-respect. The fact that justice as fairness gives more support to self-esteem than other principles is a strong reason for them to adopt it.

Therefore the parties in the original position would wish to avoid at almost any cost the social conditions that undermine self-respect. The fact that justice as fairness gives more support to self-esteem than other principles is a strong reason for them to adopt it. The conception of goodness as rationality allows us to characterize more fully the circumstances that support the first aspect of self-esteem, the sense of our own worth.

Key Concepts

On several occasions I have mentioned that perhaps the most important primary good is that of self-respect.
We may define self-respect (or self-esteem) as having two aspects.
it includes a person’s sense of his own value, his secure conviction that his conception of his good, his plan of life, is worth carrying out.
And second, self-respect implies a confidence in one’s ability, so far as it is within one’s power, to fulfill one’s intentions.
Without it nothing may seem worth doing, or if some things have value for us, we lack the will to strive for them. All desire and activity becomes empty and vain, and we sink into apathy and cynicism.
Therefore the parties in the original position would wish to avoid at almost any cost the social conditions that undermine self-respect.
The fact that justice as fairness gives more support to self-esteem than other principles is a strong reason for them to adopt it.

Context

Opening of §67, where Rawls connects the primary good of self‑respect to his conception of goodness as rationality and to the choice of principles in the original position.