Understanding of the features of political justice in the concept of John Rawls

Abstract

The article deals with the features of the interpretation of political justice in the concept of John Rawls. The emergence of the concept of justice by American researcher John Rawls would mark a new stage in the scientific study of the problem of justice. He raises the question of the lack of development of modern capitalism in terms of solving social, political and economic problems. According to Rawls’s concept, the future society should not only be effective, as the theorists and practices of industrial society have called for, but also fair. First of all, for the existence of justice, an unbiased system of ordering institutions is needed. The main subject of justice, according to Rawls, is the basic structure of society, under which he understands the whole set of the most important social, legal, political and economic institutions, the main function of which is the distribution of advantages and burdens arising from the social cooperation of members of the society. From Rawls’s point of view, justice issues are on the agenda when there is a need for a public assessment of the activities of the relevant institutions in order to balance legitimate competing interests and harassment of members of society. In other words, the problem of legitimacy arises when the legitimate rights of people come into contact with each other. Justice in the first place begins with the choice of the fundamental principle of the political, social and legal system of society, which should regulate all further institutional reforms. J. Rawls defines political justice as «the constitutionality of justice», that is, in his understanding, the validity of the functioning of the political sphere, the organization of public administration and the political regime.