John Rawls — Books and Major Works in Chronological Order

Year Book / Major Work Key Focus

1971 A Theory of Justice Justice as fairness, original position, veil of ignorance, two principles of justice

1980 Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory Moral constructivism and the Kantian foundations of justice

1985 Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical Justice as a political conception rather than a comprehensive philosophical doctrine

1993 Political Liberalism Reasonable pluralism, overlapping consensus, public reason

1995 Political Liberalism — “Reply to Habermas” Further clarification of political liberalism and democratic legitimacy

1999 A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition Revised and clarified version of the 1971 theory

1999 The Law of Peoples Justice and principles governing relations among peoples

2001 Justice as Fairness: A Restatement Accessible restatement and clarification of his theory of justice

2007 Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy Lectures on major political philosophers, including Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel and Mill

2009 A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith Early writings on religion, morality and philosophical questions

Important chronological sequence for exams

1971 → A Theory of Justice

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1980 → Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory

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1985 → Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical

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1993 → Political Liberalism

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1999 → The Law of Peoples

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1999 → Revised Edition of A Theory of Justice

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2001 → Justice as Fairness: A Restatement

Most important three

For UGC NET / SLET / Political Science, the three works to remember particularly are:

1. A Theory of Justice (1971) — Justice as Fairness

2. Political Liberalism (1993) — Reasonable Pluralism and Overlapping Consensus

3. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001) — Clarification and restatement of his theory

Exam fact: Rawls's A Theory of Justice was first published in 1971, and the revised edition appeared in 1999.