Rawls’s Two Principles of Justice First principle: Each person has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic rights and liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme for all; and in this scheme the equal political liberties, and only those liberties, are to be guaranteed their fair value.

For Rawls, changing the nature of work was crucial for bringing about a more just society. In a society organized on the basis of his principles, he argued, “no one need be servilely dependent on others and made to choose between monotonous and routine occupations which are deadening to human thought and sensibility. Each can be offered a variety

While the importance of civic education has long been recognized in principle, it has increasingly been neglected in practice. In most countries today, the overwhelming focus of the education system is on preparing citizens for economic life.

For Rawls, a just society is one in which we can “face one another openly,” in the sense that we can offer a justification to one another for the way society is organized, including to the least well off.

A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias. Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism”

But when it comes to questions about our most elemental freedoms, we should avoid arguments about personal morality and sin and focus on our fundamental right to live according to our own beliefs.

In order to be fair, these decisions must also be made in a context where men and women have genuinely equal opportunities: there is nothing fair about a situation in which women “choose” to take on the bulk of unpaid care work because they face discrimination at work or in education, as has so often been the case.

The malaise sweeping across today’s liberal democracies is about more than money—it reflects a more profound crisis of dignity and meaning which is closely tied to changes in the nature of work over recent decades, from the decline in industrial jobs and communities to the rise of automation and the gig economy.

While the importance of civic education has long been recognized in principle, it has increasingly been neglected in practice. In most countries today, the overwhelming focus of the education system is on preparing citizens for economic life.