It gives me great pleasure to provide this preface to the revised edition of A Theory of Justice. Despite many criticisms of the original work, I still accept its main outlines and defend its central doctrines. Of course, I wish, as one might expect, that I had done certain things differently, and I would now make a number of important revisions. But if I were writing A Theory of Justice over again, I would not write, as authors sometimes say,a completely different book.

"Each person" writes John Rawls,"possesses an inviolability founded on justice chat even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.Therefore in a just society the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests."

In this book Mr. Rawls attempts to account for these propositions, which he believes express our intuitive convictions of the primacy of justice. The principles of justice he sets forth are those that flee and rational persons would accept in an initial posiuon of equality. In this hypothetical situation.which corresponds to the state of nature m social contract theory, no one knows his or her place in society; his or her class position or social status; his or her fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities: his or her intelligence, strength, and the like: or even his or her concepuon of the good.Thus. deliberating behind a veil of ignorance, people determine their rights and duties. The first, theoretical, section of the book addresses objections to the theory and alternative positions, especially utilitarianism.The author then applies his theory to the philosophical basis of the constitutional liberties, the probleln of distributive justice, and the definition of the ground and limits of political duty and obligation. He includes here discussion of the issues of civil disobedience and conscienuous objection. Finally, he connects the theory of justice with a doctrine of the good and of moral development. This enables him to formulate a conception of society as a social union of social unions and to use the theory of justice to explain the values of community.

Since the appearance of the book in 1971. A Theory of Justice has been translated into 23 languages. Revisions to the original English text have been included in translations since 1975.This new English edition incorporates all those revismns, which the author considers to be significant improvements,especially to the discussions of liberty and primary goods.The Preface for the Revised Edition discusses the revisions m some detail.

PREFACE FOR THE REVISED EDITION

PREFACE

Part One. Theory

CHAPTER I. JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS

 1. The Role of Justice

 2. The Subject of Justice

 3. The Main Idea of the Theory of Justice

 4. The Original Position and Justification

 5. Classical Utilitarianism

 6. Some Related Contrasts

 7. Intuitionism

 8. The Priority Problem

 9. Some Remarks about Moral Theory

CHAPTER II. THE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE

 10. Institutions and Formal Justice

 11. Two Principles of Justice

 12. Interpretations of the Second Principle

 13. Democratic Equality and the Difference Principle

 14. Fair Equality of Opportunity and Pure Procedural Justice

 15. Primary Social Goods as the Basis of Expectations

 16. Relevant Social Positions

 17. The Tendency to Equality

 18. Principles for Individuals: The Principle of Fairness

 19. Principles for Individuals: The Natural Duties

CHAPTER III. THE ORIGINAL POSITION

 20. The Nature of the Argument for Conceptions of Justice

 21. The Presentation of Alternatives

 22. The Circumstances of Justice

 23. The Formal Constraints of the Concept of Right

 24. The Veil of Ignorance

 25. The Rationality of the Parties

 26. The Reasoning Leading to the Two Principles of Justice

 27. The Reasoning Leading to the Principle of Average Utility

 28. Some Difficulties with the Average Principle

 29. Some Main Grounds for the Two Principles of Justice

 30. Classical Utilitarianism, Impartiality, and Benevolence

 Part Two. Institutions

CHAPTER IV. EQUAL LIBERTY

 31. The Four-Stage Sequence

 32. The Concept of Liberty

 33. Equal Liberty of Conscience

 34. Toleration and the Common Interest

 35. Toleration of the Intolerant

 36. Political Justice and the Constitution

 37. Limitations on the Principle of Participation

 38. The Rule of Law

 39. The Priority of Liberty Defined

 40. The Kantian Interpretation of Justice as Fairness

CHAPTER V. DISTRIBUTIVE SHARES

 41. The Concept of Justice in Political Economy

 42. Some Remarks about Economic Systems

 43. Background Institutions for Distributive Justice

 44. The Problem of Justice between Generations

 45. Time Preference

 46. Further Cases of Priority

 47. The Precepts of Justice

 48. Legitimate Expectations and Moral Desert

 49. Comparison with Mixed Conceptions

 50. The Principle of Perfection

CHAPTER VI. DUTY AND OBLIGATION

 51. The Arguments for the Princ！ples of Natural Duty

 52. The Arguments for the Principle of Fairness

 53. The Duty to Comply with an Unjust Law

 54. The Status of Majority Rule

 55. The Definition of Civil Disobedience

 56. The Definition of Conscientious Refusal

 57. The Justification of Civil Disobedience

 58. The Justification of Conscientious Refusal

 59. The Role of Civil Disobedience

 Part Three. Ends

CHAPTER VII. GOODNESS AS RATIONALITY

 60. The Need for a Theory of the Good

 6l. The Definition of Good for Simpler Cases

 62. A Note on Meaning

 63. The Definition of Good for Plans of Life

 64. Deliberative Rationality

 65. The Aristotelian Principle

 66. The Definition of Good Applied to Persons

 67. Self-Respect, Excellences, and Shame

 68. Several Contrasts between the Right and the Good

CHAPTER VIII. THE SENSE OF JUSTICE

 69. The Concept of a Well-Ordered Society

 70. The Morality of Authority

 71. The Morality of Association

 72. The Morality of Principles

 73. Features of the Moral Sentiments

 74. The Connection between Moral and Natural Attitudes

 75. The Principles of Moral Psychology

 76. The Problem of Relative Stability

 77. The Basis of Equality

CHAPTER IX. THE GOOD OF JUSTICE

 78. Autonomy and Objectivity

 79. The Idea of Social Union

 80. The Problem of Envy

 81. Envy and Equality

 82. The Grounds for the Priority of Liberty

 83. Happiness and Dominant Ends

 84. Hedonism as a Method of Choice

 85. The Unity of the Self

 86. The Good of the Sense of Justice

 87. Concluding Remarks on Justification

Conversion Table

Index