John Rawls
About the author
John Rawls (1921–2002) is widely regarded as one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century. Born in Baltimore, he worked in the modern liberal tradition and is best known for A Theory of Justice (1971), whose publication Will Kymlicka credited with sparking the rebirth of normative political philosophy. His theory of "justice as fairness" — built around equal liberties, equality of opportunity, and the "original position" thought experiment — reshaped political thought.
His later Political Liberalism (1993) tackled legitimacy amid moral pluralism. In 1999 he received both the Schock Prize and the National Humanities Medal.
