"In 1971 John Rawls's A Theory of Justice transformed twentieth-century political philosophy, and it ranks among the most influential works in the history of the subject. This volume marks the 50th anniversary of the book's publication by offering a multi-faceted exploration of this important work"--

Part I. Rawls and History: 1. 'Taillight illumination: how Rawlsian concepts may improve understanding of Hobbes's political philosophy' S. A. Lloyd; 2. 'The theory Rawls, the 1844 Marx, and the market' Daniel Brudney; 3. 'Rawls, Lerner, and the tax-and-spend booby trap: what happened to monetary policy?' Aaron James; 4. 'Rawls's principles of justice as a transcendence of class warfare' Elizabeth Anderson; 5. 'The significance of injustice' Peter de Marneffe; Part II. Developments between A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism: 6. 'On being a 'self-originating source of valid claims' Stephen Darwall; 7. ' Moral independence revisited: a note on the development of Rawls's thought from 1977¿1980 and beyond' Samuel Scheffler; 8. 'The method of insulation: on the development of Rawls's thought after a theory of justice' Rainer Forst; 9. 'The stability or fragility of justice' Japa Pallikkathayil; Part III. Rawls, Ideal Theory and the Persistence of Injustice: 10. 'The circumstances of justice' Erin I. Kelly; 11. 'Why Rawls's ideal theory leaves the well-ordered society vulnerable to structural oppression' Henry S. Richardson; 12. 'Race, reparations, and justice as fairness' Tommie Shelby; 13. ' On the role of the original position in Rawls's theory: reassessing the 'idealization' and 'fact-sensitivity' critiques' Laura Valentini; Part IV. Pluralism, Democracy and the Future of Justice as Fairness: 14. 'Public reason at fifty' Kevin Vallier; 15. 'Reasonable political conceptions and the well-ordered liberal society' Samuel Freeman; 16. 'Religious pluralism and social unions' Paul Weithman; 17. 'One Person, at least one vote? Rawls on political equality¿within limits' David Estlund; 18. 'Reflections on democracy's fragility' Joshua Cohen; 19. 'A society of self-respect' Leif Wenar; Bibliography; Index.