Abstract:
John Rawls "A Theory of Justice" is presented in a fundamental way. Key notions and concepts are namend and explicated. Among these are the original position, the notion of justice, the principles of justice, the reflective equilibrium, the difference principle, the well-ordered society, the political obligation and the civil disobedience. A further step shows streams of criticism: libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism. Two critics are underline and presented: Juergen Habermas and Martha Nussbaum. Also Rawls' political Liberalism is presented in a compact way. Central are the idea of an overlapping consensus and the public reason. A further chapter examine the relationship between Rawls philosophy on the one hand, and theology and ethics on the other hand. A special focus is dedicated to concrete contexts of application of Rawls theory of justice: ethics of economy, health (care) ethics, environmental ethics, information ethics, intercultural ethics a human rigths, and global ethics. Finally there is a short view on Rawls self-characterization of his theory as realistic utopy.