Review of Jon Mandle's introduction to Rawls

In "Notre Dame Philosophical Review" (May 12, 2010):

A review of

Jon Mandle's "Rawls's A Theory of Justice: An Introduction" (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

- by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, University of Århus, Denmark.

Excerpt:

"[....] as an introductory text that students use as a supplement to a careful reading of A Theory of Justice itself, it is an excellent book. For Rawls scholars, the book is interesting because of the way in which it critically comments on various received interpretations of A Theory of Justice. It does justice to the two latter parts of A Theory of Justice in a way that few other introductory texts do and is quite helpful in explaining the structure of these less well-read last 400 pages of A Theory of Justice. Last, but not least, Mandle's book is interesting because he couples his anti-luck egalitarian reading of Rawls with his view that Rawls favors property-owning democracy over welfare-state capitalism -- because of how the former better than the latter ensures that citizens can relate to one another as equals. In making this connection, Mandle strikes a chord that is intriguing and very up-to-date in the light of Elizabeth Anderson's and Samuel Scheffler's recent critiques of luck-egalitarianism."

Jon Mandle is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Albany, SUNY. Jon Mandle's introduction to his book is available here [pdf].