Rationality and Justice: Textual investigation based on A Theory of Justice

Rawls put forward the concepts of "the original state" and "the Veil of ignorance" in his book A Theory of Justice, which made an outstanding contribution to the reconstruction of the social contract theory. On this basis, he demonstrated the combination of the two principles of justice, namely the principle of equal liberty, the principle of equal opportunity and difference principle, which had a strong impact on the long-term mainstream utilitarian view of justice. Based on the textual investigation of A Theory of Justice, this paper starts from the reason basis shared by the two, takes the relationship between reason and justice as a clue, analyzes the differences between Rawls and utilitarianism in moral philosophy and methodology, and explains the connotation of Rawls's two principles of justice in detail. On the other hand, Rawls' systematic recognition and adoption of utilitarianism, as well as the utilitarian characteristics presented in the principle of difference, make the relationship between the two show a complex state of opposition and interwoven. In this paper, Rawls's theory of justice will be deeply explored, and the internal logic of Rawls's thought of justice will be analyzed, so as to further clarify the relationship between reason and justice.