Chapter 7 Further Reading: Justice

Primary Sources

Rawlsian Justice

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971; revised edition 1999) The foundational text. It is long and demanding, but chapters 1–3 (the original position, the two principles, and the veil of ignorance) are essential and reasonably accessible. The revised edition incorporates Rawls's responses to his critics. Begin with Part One.

John Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001) Rawls's own summary of his argument, written late in his life to correct misreadings of the original. More accessible than A Theory of Justice and incorporates thirty years of responses to critics. An excellent alternative starting point.

Samuel Freeman, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Rawls (2003) An excellent collection of essays on Rawls's theory, including chapters on the original position, the difference principle, and the major objections. The chapter by T.M. Scanlon on Rawls's theory is particularly clear.

Libertarian Justice

Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) Essential. The first fifty pages (Chapter 1, on the state of nature; Chapter 2, on the minimal state) and Part II (particularly Chapter 7, on distributive justice, including the Wilt Chamberlain argument) are the core. Nozick's writing is playful and often brilliant; he is genuinely worth engaging with, not just dismissing.

Michael Huemer, The Problem of Political Authority (2013) A more recent libertarian argument that begins from different premises than Nozick. Useful for seeing that the libertarian tradition is more diverse than Nozick alone represents.

Utilitarian Justice

Peter Singer, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" (1972, Philosophy and Public Affairs) The foundational article, twelve pages, freely available online. One of the most influential philosophy papers of the twentieth century. If you read only one thing from the utilitarian section, read this.

Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save (2009; expanded edition 2019) Singer's accessible argument for our obligations to address global poverty. The 2019 edition is available free at thelifeyoucansave.org.

Peter Singer, Practical Ethics (3rd ed., 2011) A comprehensive application of utilitarian ethics to practical questions including famine, animal welfare, environmental ethics, and euthanasia. Chapter 2 on equality and Chapter 8 on global poverty are most directly relevant to this chapter.

Confucian Justice

Confucius, The Analects (c. 5th–4th century BCE) The foundational text. The Edward Slingerland translation (Hackett, 2003) is highly readable and well-annotated. Focus on Books I–III and XII–XIII for the most directly politically relevant material.

Mencius, Mengzi (c. 4th century BCE) Mencius develops the Confucian tradition in important directions, including the doctrine of graded love and the idea that rulers forfeit their mandate when they fail the people. Bryan Van Norden's translation (Hackett, 2008) is the standard academic edition.

Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, eds., Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (2nd ed., 2006) An anthology including selections from Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, and other classical Chinese philosophers, with introductions. An excellent starting point for readers new to the tradition.

Li Chenyang, "The Confucian Concept of Jen and the Feminist Ethics of Care: A Comparative Study" in Hypatia (1994) An important article making the case that Confucian ethics and feminist ethics of care share significant common ground — and developing the point that Confucian relational ethics need not entail the hierarchical subordination of women.

Ubuntu and Restorative Justice

Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (1999) See also the entry in Chapter 6. Essential reading for understanding how Ubuntu principles were applied to the TRC and why Tutu believed restorative justice was the appropriate response to apartheid.

Thaddeus Metz, "Ubuntu as a Moral Theory: Reply to Four Critics" in South African Journal of Philosophy (2007) Metz is the most rigorous academic philosopher working on Ubuntu, and this article is a clear and accessible defense of Ubuntu as a systematic moral theory against standard objections. Freely available online.

Howard Zehr, Changing Lenses: Restorative Justice for Our Times (1990; anniversary edition 2015) The foundational text of restorative justice as a practice and philosophy. Zehr developed the restorative justice framework in dialogue with Mennonite theology and community practice; the result is accessible, practical, and philosophically serious.

Ruth Morris, Stories of Transformative Justice (2000) Case studies of restorative justice processes in action, useful for understanding what Ubuntu-informed justice looks like in practice rather than theory.

Critical Perspectives

Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982; 2nd ed., 1998) The most influential communitarian critique of Rawls. Sandel argues that the veil of ignorance encodes an "unencumbered self" — a conception of the person as separable from all particular commitments and community attachments — that is both metaphysically false and morally impoverished. Whether or not you agree, engaging with this argument is essential for understanding the limits of Rawlsian justice.

Michael Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? (2009) A beautifully accessible overview of the major theories of justice — utilitarian, libertarian, Kantian, Rawlsian, and communitarian — organized around concrete cases. Based on Sandel's famous Harvard course. An excellent companion to this chapter.

G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995) The most rigorous philosophical critique of Nozick's self-ownership thesis from a left-libertarian perspective. Cohen accepts that persons own themselves but argues this does not generate the strong property rights Nozick claims.

Martha Nussbaum, Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (2011) Nussbaum develops the capabilities approach to justice — associated with Amartya Sen — as an alternative to both Rawlsian and utilitarian frameworks. The focus is on what people are actually able to do and be, not just what resources they hold or what utility they experience. The chapters on Rawls are particularly useful for understanding where Nussbaum thinks liberal justice falls short.

Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990) An influential feminist critique of distributive approaches to justice (including Rawls), arguing that justice must address structural oppression and cultural imperialism — the ways in which social structures produce domination and exclusion — not just the distribution of goods. Young's concept of "structural injustice" is essential for understanding types of injustice that distributional frameworks cannot adequately address.

Global and Environmental Justice

Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights (2nd ed., 2008) Pogge argues that citizens of wealthy countries are not merely failing to help the global poor — they are actively harming them through international institutions and rules that systematically disadvantage poor countries. The distinction matters morally: we have stronger obligations to stop harming than to start helping.

Henry Shue, Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy (1980; 2nd ed., 1996) A classic argument that subsistence rights (to food, water, health care) are basic human rights — not luxuries — and generate genuine positive obligations on wealthy states and individuals.

Simon Caney, "Climate Justice, Rights, and Self-Determination" in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2008) A clear, systematic application of human rights frameworks to climate justice. Caney argues that climate change violates basic rights and generates strong obligations for both mitigation and compensation.

For Further Study

The field of political philosophy is rich, contested, and developing. If this chapter sparked genuine interest, the best next steps are:

1. Read Rawls's Justice as Fairness: A Restatement — the more accessible version of his argument in his own words.
2. Read Sandel's Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? — the best accessible survey of the major frameworks.
3. Read Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" — twelve pages that will force you to confront your own practices.
4. Read Tutu's No Future Without Forgiveness — the lived application of a non-Western justice framework to one of the most significant political transitions of the twentieth century.

Then return to the opening scenario — the factory closure — and see whether your analysis has changed.