An alternative way to inquire into social justice

An Alternative Way to Inquire into Social Justice

Hisashi Nasu

Waseda University, Japan

One of the most influential works on “social justice” is, needless to say, “A Theory of Justice” (1971) by John Rawls. His arguments about “justice” as the most important virtue, which social institutions must demonstrate, are founded on the so-called “rational choice theory,” which reflects on his key concepts, e.g., the “original position” as a “reasonable initial status quo,” and the “veil of ignorance.” This also imposes limitations on his “two principles of justice,” that is, the first principle as “the principle of equal liberty,” and the second principle which consists of “the difference principle” and “the principle of fair of opportunity.”

The aim of this presentation is to make these limitations clear and to search for an alternative way to inquire into social justice under the framework of Alfred Schutz’s phenomenologically based theory of “project of action.