How does the operation of PHARMAC's 'Community Exceptional ...

Rawls’ theory of distributive justice (Rawls, 1971). Rawls used social contract
theory to describe ideal forms of social justice aligned to the tradition of Hobbs
(Romano, 2009) and Aristotle.
Introducing the Theories of John Rawls
The chief purpose of Rawls’ theory of ‘justice as fairness’ is to ensure the
avoidance of a sanction on utilitarian and consequentialist thinking where the
interests of individuals would be sacrificed for the greater good. Rawls invited
participants to engage in a thought experiment (Adams & Dyson, 2004; Kelly,
2003). The experiment was to devise the kind of society in which a group of
individuals are placed in what Rawls calls, the ‘original position’ or the ‘state of
nature’. This is a state in which individuals are free from coercion and located
behind a ‘veil of ignorance’. Such persons are characterised by a lack of
knowledge about themselves and the other individuals in the experiment. They
would know that it would be useful for them to have what Rawls called
comprehensive preferences such as primary goods, rights, liberties,
opportunities, powers, income and wealth and the basis of self-respect (Lamont,
2007). Rawls assumed that everyone would want as much of these goods or
pleasures as was possible. In the experiment Rawls decided that the
participants of the experiment did not know anything about their own talents or
abilities nor did they know what status, influence or position they would have in
the society (Honderich, 1995).
In these conditions, where self-interested participants will make decisions
without knowing how these decisions will affect them, Rawls believed they
would devise the principles of justice for the society and its institutions where
the fundamental agreements are fair. Rawls expected the participants in this
experiment to arrive at general principles that would also protect the most
vulnerable in society. This is because any participant could have turned out to
be the most advantaged, or the most disadvantaged member and their
conceptions of justice would be ranked by their acceptability to persons so
circumstanced (Rawls, 1971). Rawls’ theory arose from participants’
submissions about the characteristics and content of justice for institutions and
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