Impartiality and Mutual AdvantageTheories of Justice, Vol. 1 of A Treatise on Social Justice.Brian Barry

Abstract

Over four hundred pages long, Brian Barry's Theories of Justice is a substantial volume; but it is only the first part of a three-volume Treatise on Social Justice. Barry says that his object in this first volume is to present and discuss what he sees as the two leading contenders among theories of justice: justice as mutual advantage and justice as impartiality. He favors the latter conception of justice. He promises to present his own version of this conception-a version that will overcome the difficulties and tensions he has found in existing theories. But this will come in volume 2. Despite the claims of the blurb, Theories of Justice cannot really be read as a self-contained book. Some contributions to the theory ofjustice-those of David Hume, John Rawls, and, more surprising, R. B. Braithwaite-are covered in considerable detail; ' others are dismissed with a few terse words. Some lines of enquiry are followed for many pages and yet apparently lead nowhere. No doubt all will become clear when the Treatise is complete; for the present, we must take this on trust. As compensation, there is the pleasure of trying to work out, from the scattered clues provided in this volume, what Barry's own theory of justice will look like.