In at least five different ways Rawls’s thought is indebted to Aristotle’s (384–322 BCE). First, Rawls’s overall method of relective equilibrium goes back to Aristotle’s dialectic in Nicomachean Ethics, as interpreted by W. F. R. Hardie (TJ 45). Second, his theory of primary goods relies heavily on Aristotle (TJ 79, 351). Third, Aristotle’s belief that the fact that human beings possess a sense of justice is what makes possible a polis is analogous to Rawls’s belief that humanity’s common understanding of fairness is what makes possible a constitutional democracy (TJ 214). Fourth, Rawls relies on Aristotle in thinking that justice consists in refraining from pleonexia – i.e. unfairly gaining at the expense of others (TJ 9–10). And fifth, Rawls relies on Aristotle’s idea that no one should tailor the canons of legitimate complaint to it his or her own special conditions (CP 200–201).

The chief point of conlict between Rawls’s views and Aristotle’s lies in the latter’s perfectionism, as Rawls interprets Aristotle (TJ 22, 286). He notes that Aristotle was interpreted as a teleological and metaphysical perfectionist at least until the time of Kant (CP 343). Because perfectionism is a type of teleological doctrine, it comes under the sway of Rawls’s critique of teleological doctrines, in general, which is one of the main aims of TJ.