Justice as Impartiality

Almost every country today contains adherents of different religions and different secular conceptions of the good life. Is there any alternative to a power struggle among them, leading most probably to either civil war or oppression? The argument of this book is that justice as impartiality offers a solution.According to the theory of justice as impartiality, principles of justice are those principles that provide a reasonable basis for the
unforced assent of those subject to them. The object of this book is to set out the theory, explain its rationale, and respond to the variety of criticisms that have been made of
it.This is the second volume of A Treatise on Social Justice. The first, Theories of Justice, explored alternative theories and concluded by asserting the superiority of justice as impartiality. This conclusion is built on in Justoce as Impartiality, but it does not presuppose acquaintance with Theories of Justice.

Author Biography

Brian Barry is Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics. Hi is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was the founding editor of the highly respected British Journal of Political Science and editor of the world’s leading moral philosophy journal Ethics. His previous books include: Theories of Justice; Democracy and Power: Essays in Political Theory 1 (OUP, 1991) and Liberty and Justice: Essays in
Political Theory 2 (OUP, 1991)