difference principle
E464100
The difference principle is a central idea in John Rawls’s theory of justice that holds social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| difference principle canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4717077 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: difference principle Context triple: [John Rawls, conceptIntroduced, difference principle]
-
A.
Inequality Reexamined
Inequality Reexamined is a philosophical and economic work by Amartya Sen that critically analyzes traditional views of inequality and justice through his capabilities approach.
-
B.
veil of ignorance
The veil of ignorance is a philosophical thought experiment that asks people to design a just society without knowing their own position within it, ensuring fairness and impartiality in the principles they choose.
-
C.
Without Equal
"Without Equal" is the English motto expressing the unmatched excellence and elite status of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
-
D.
Equality
"Equality" is a seminal 1931 work of social and political philosophy by R. H. Tawney that critiques economic inequality and argues for a more just, egalitarian society.
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E.
Equity
Equity is a 2016 financial thriller film centered on a female investment banker navigating Wall Street corruption and gender dynamics.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: difference principle Target entity description: The difference principle is a central idea in John Rawls’s theory of justice that holds social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.
-
A.
Inequality Reexamined
Inequality Reexamined is a philosophical and economic work by Amartya Sen that critically analyzes traditional views of inequality and justice through his capabilities approach.
-
B.
veil of ignorance
The veil of ignorance is a philosophical thought experiment that asks people to design a just society without knowing their own position within it, ensuring fairness and impartiality in the principles they choose.
-
C.
Without Equal
"Without Equal" is the English motto expressing the unmatched excellence and elite status of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
-
D.
Equality
"Equality" is a seminal 1931 work of social and political philosophy by R. H. Tawney that critiques economic inequality and argues for a more just, egalitarian society.
-
E.
Equity
Equity is a 2016 financial thriller film centered on a female investment banker navigating Wall Street corruption and gender dynamics.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
component of a theory of justice
ⓘ
normative ethical principle ⓘ principle of distributive justice ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
improve the situation of the least advantaged
ⓘ
regulate the basic structure of society ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
economic inequalities
ⓘ
social inequalities ⓘ |
| associatedWithConcept |
maximin rule
ⓘ
primary goods ⓘ |
| belongsTo | second principle of justice in Rawls's two principles ⓘ |
| compatibleWith | some social and economic inequalities ⓘ |
| conditionOnInequalities | inequalities must work to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
laissez-faire capitalism
ⓘ
strict egalitarianism ⓘ utilitarianism ⓘ |
| criticizedBy |
Robert Nozick
ⓘ
libertarian theorists ⓘ some egalitarian theorists ⓘ |
| domain | basic structure of major social institutions ⓘ |
| evaluatedFrom | original position ⓘ |
| evaluatedInTermsOf |
economic primary goods
ⓘ
social primary goods ⓘ |
| evaluatedUnder | veil of ignorance ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
distribution of income and wealth
ⓘ
distribution of life prospects ⓘ distribution of opportunities ⓘ |
| formulatedBy | John Rawls ⓘ |
| hasGoal | mitigate morally arbitrary effects of social and natural contingencies ⓘ |
| influenced |
later egalitarian liberal theories
ⓘ
public policy debates on inequality ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Kantian moral philosophy
ⓘ
social contract tradition ⓘ |
| justifiesInequalitiesIf | they benefit the least advantaged members of society ⓘ |
| orderedAfter |
basic liberties principle
ⓘ
fair equality of opportunity principle ⓘ |
| partOf |
John Rawls's theory of justice
ⓘ
linked to:
A Theory of Justice
justice as fairness ⓘ |
| presupposes | fair equality of opportunity ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1971 ⓘ |
| requires |
institutional design to favor the least advantaged
ⓘ
maximizing the expectations of the least advantaged representative group ⓘ |
| statedIn | A Theory of Justice ⓘ |
| supports |
progressive taxation in some interpretations
ⓘ
redistributive social policies ⓘ |
| usedIn |
debates on welfare state justification
ⓘ
normative economics ⓘ political philosophy ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: difference principle Description of subject: The difference principle is a central idea in John Rawls’s theory of justice that holds social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
John