Discipline: Economics
Named after the American philosopher John Rawls (1921-2002), Rawls theory of justice sees justice as fairness, and its intuitive idea is that the well-being of society depends on cooperation.
It is based on the traditional theories of social contract as represented by English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).
Also see: entitlement theorem
Source:
J Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Oxford, 1972)