The circumstances of justice may be described as the normal conditions under which human cooperation is both possible and necessary.

There are two kinds of comprehensive doctrines, religious and secular. Those of religious faith will say I give a veiled argument for secularism, and the latter will say I give a veiled argument for religion. I deny both. Each side presumes the basic ideas of constitutional democracy, so my suggestion is that we can make our political arguments in terms of public reason. Then we stand on common ground. That's how we can understand each other and cooperate.

I have tried to set forth a theory that enables us to understand and to assess these feelings about the primacy of justice. Justice as fairness is the outcome: it articulates these opinions and supports their general tendency.

Public reason arguments can be good or bad just like other arguments.

Justice is happiness according to virtue.

A political conception covers the right to vote, the political virtues, and the good of political life, but it doesn't intend to cover anything else.

An injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice.