John Rawls

The idea of public reason is that citizens are to conduct their political discussions in terms of reasons that all can reasonably be expected to endorse.

A society is well-ordered when it is effectively regulated by a public conception of justice.

The overlapping consensus is a feature of a well-ordered society in which citizens hold different comprehensive doctrines but still agree on a political conception of justice.

The duty of civility requires us to explain how our political positions can be supported by the values of public reason.

The idea of a political conception of justice is that it applies to the basic structure of society and is independent of any comprehensive philosophical or religious doctrine.

The fact of reasonable pluralism is a permanent condition of a free democratic society.

The role of philosophy in a democratic society is to help citizens clarify their own political values and to find public reasons for their political positions.

The aim of political philosophy is to articulate and to make explicit those shared notions and principles that are latent in the common sense of a democratic society.

The idea of reflective equilibrium is a state of affairs where our considered judgments about justice and our principles of justice are in harmony.

The basic structure of society is the primary subject of justice.

Justice as fairness is not a comprehensive moral doctrine, but a political conception of justice.

The primary goods are things that every rational man is presumed to want.

The concept of right is prior to that of the good.

The principles of justice apply to the basic structure of society and govern the assignment of rights and duties and regulate the distribution of social and economic advantages.

The idea of a well-ordered society is an ideal that we should strive for, even if we can never fully achieve it.

The difference principle is not intended to maximize the welfare of the least advantaged, but to ensure that their prospects are as good as they can be.

The social contract is a hypothetical agreement among free and equal persons.

The principles of justice are to be chosen in a situation where no one is able to tailor principles to his own advantage.

The concept of justice is distinct from that of fairness.

The idea of public reason is a moral idea, not merely a prudential one.