Institutions and the Demands of Justice

This chapter discusses the A Theory of Justice John Rawls writes that "justice is the first virtue of social institutions." It presents the all fundamental normative principles that apply to the design of institutions apply also to the conduct of people. The chapter suggests that Rawls understands contract and property law and the background institutions of taxation and transfer as together belonging to the one structure that should be evaluated as a whole by principles of justice. Gerald Cohen's incentives argument was intended to show that Rawls's own account of justice, properly interpreted, tolerated far less inequality than Rawls and others had supposed. He notes that Rawls sometimes lists the institution of the family as part of the basic structure. The standard way of thinking about the problem of what are reasonable moral/political demands focuses on the cost or sacrifice imposed on complying agents.