Murmur of the Absolute

In lecture seven, we consider the post-World War II revival of moral normativity, driven by the recognition of real evil and the need for objective moral standards beyond personal preference. We examine two major theories of distributive justice: John Rawls’s “justice as fairness,” grounded in the social contract, original position, and veil of ignorance, and Robert Nozick’s historical theory of justice, which emphasizes legitimate acquisition and individual liberty over patterned distributions. The lecture concludes by considering the tension between fairness and liberty, as well as Rawls’s later concerns about maintaining consensus in increasingly diverse societies.