Abstract

This dissertation examines and explores John Rawls' theory of justice as initially set forth in A Theory of Justice and as later revised in Political Liberalism. The examination and exploration focus on the theory as the source of a public environmental ethic supporting the maintenance and preservation of nature on the ground of nature's intimate association with certain primary goods and an obligation to future generations. In the course of the dissertation, attention is also paid to previous attempts to adapt Rawls' initial theory to an environmental ethic. These previous attempts are all Utilitarian in character, and the dissertation shows why they are unsuccessful. The dissertation sketches an environmental ethic appropriate to the Rawlsian approach, which ethic, while anthropocentric in character, is not narrowly so. Finally, potential criticisms of the Rawlsian environmental ethic are examined and rebutted.