Beyond Justice as Fairness

Paul Nnodim is professor of philosophy at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Beyond Justice as Fairness is a pedagogical gem. Nnodim articulates the key ideas of John Rawls’s theory of justice in an accessible way that all readers will appreciate. Nnodim identifies the nuances and trajectories of those ideas throughout Rawls’s major works and gives attention to the ways in which themes of justice, freedom, and equality are contrasted in classical liberalism and the Rawlsian model. Noting how Rawls’s political liberalism differs from comprehensive liberalism, the author navigates the dilemmas of multiculturalism and the plurality of values by focusing on humans' shared political endeavors. Among Nnodim's noteworthy contributions is his application of Rawls’s notion of justice as fairness in contexts Rawls may not have foreseen. The final chapter offers a cross-cultural, philosophical analysis of justice and its relation to personhood in Igbo culture. This rich book will be valuable to those interested in human rights and global justice, democracy and citizenship, and individualism and social justice. Those studying philosophy, political science, peace and justice studies, or Africana studies will want this volume. Essential.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Part I Social JusticeChapter 1: The Question of JusticeChapter 2: Why Utilitarianism is not the Best OptionPart II Pluralism, Public Reason, and Political StabilityChapter 3: The Departure from Classical LiberalismChapter 4: Justice as Fairness: A Re-Interpretation Chapter 5: Why Public Reason is not the “Public Use of Reason”Chapter 6: Rawls’s Idea of a Well-Ordered Society Part III Rawls’s Global Justice and the Non-Western WorldChapter 7: Human Rights in The Law of Peoples Chapter 8: Liberal Individualism and the Concept of the Person in African Philosophy: Implications for Rawls’s Basic Human Rights EpilogueNotesBibliography