The Law of Peoples

John Borden Rawls wurde am 21. Februar 1921 in Baltimore, USA geboren und starb am 24. November 2002 in Lexington. Er schloss die berühmte episkopalischen Privatschule in Kent im Jahr 1939 ab und machte vier Jahre später seinen Bachelor of Arts an der Princeton University. Darauf folgte die Promotion in Philosophie und seine Lehrzeit in Princeton. Von 1952 bis 1953 erhielt er ein Fulbright Stipendium für die Universität Oxford in England. Danach arbeitete er als assistant und associate -Professor an der Cornell-Universität in Ithaca, New York, bevor er ab 1962 dort ordentlicher Professor wurde. Von 1970 bis 1972 war er Präsident der American Association of Political and Social Philosophers. Ab 1979 lehrt er Philosophie an der Harvard Universität in Cambridge.

Consisting of two essays, this work by a Harvard professor offers his thoughts on the idea of a social contract regulating people's behavior toward one another. "The Law of Peoples" is the culmination of more than 50 years of Rawls's reflection on liberalism and on some of the most pressing problems of our times.

This work consists of two parts: "The Idea of Public Reason Revisited", published in 1997, and "The Law of Peoples", a reworking of an article published in 1993. Taken together, they are the culmination of more than 50 years of reflection on liberalism and on some pressing problems of our times.

Introduction The First Part of Ideal Theory The Law of Peoples as Realistic Utopia Why Peoples and Not States? Two Original Positions The Principles of the Law of Peoples Democratic Peace and Its Stability Society of Liberal Peoples: Its Public Reason The Second Part of Ideal Theory Toleration of Nonliberal Peoples Extension to Decent Hierarchical Peoples Decent Consultation Hierarchy Human Rights Comments on Procedure of the Law of Peoples Concluding Observations Nonideal Theory Just War Doctrine: The Right to War Just War Doctrine: Conduct of War Burdened Societies On Distributive Justice among Peoples Conclusion Public Reason and the Law of Peoples Reconcilation to Our Social World THE IDEA OF PUBLIC REASON REVISITED The Idea of Public Reason The Content of Public Reason Religion and Public Reason in Democracy The Wide View of Public Political Culture On the Family as Part of the Basic Structure Questions about Public Reason Conclusion Index