Question

John Rawls's concept of justice is a:

• A. Legal Concept
• B. Political Concept
• C. Sociological Concept
• D. Philosophical Concept

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Rawls revised how he described his own theory over time, and this question is really asking about that later, more precise self-description rather than the earlier framing in "A Theory of Justice" alone.

1. Legal Concept: justice as fairness is a standard for judging a society's basic structure, not a body of enacted law or legal doctrine, so this label does not fit.
2. Political Concept: in "Political Liberalism", Rawls describes his theory as a political conception of justice, built to be acceptable to citizens who hold different, even conflicting, comprehensive moral or religious views, without requiring agreement on any one of those views. This is Rawls's own chosen classification.
3. Sociological Concept: Rawls is not describing how societies in fact behave, he is prescribing principles a just society should follow, which places his theory in normative political philosophy rather than sociology.
4. Philosophical Concept: Rawls deliberately steers away from anchoring justice as fairness in one comprehensive philosophical doctrine, famously summarising his later position as political, not metaphysical.

Let's summarize:

• Rawls's early work builds justice as fairness through the original position and veil of ignorance.
• His later work, "Political Liberalism", reclassifies it explicitly as a political conception, meant to work across different comprehensive worldviews.

Rawls's concept of justice is best described as a Political Concept.