Allameh Tabatabaei and John Rawls’s Views on Just Equality and Inequality

Equality and inequality are notions which have been considered by the thinkers more than ever since the globalization. Meanwhile, Allameh Tabatabaei and John Rawls, two justice theorists, have paid a special attention to these notions. The present research has been conducted, using the comparative study method, to find the similarity and difference of these two thinkers’. The most important findings of the present study are as follows: Allameh Tabatabaei on the basis of unique human reality and Rawls on the basis of the measure of the minimum capacity for moral personality have emphasized the equality of individuals in the enjoyment of rights. Both thinkers believe that some inequalities are just; Allameh Tabatabaei has chosen the role of an individual in thev provision of the needs of society as the standard while Rawls insists on the higher interest of the lower social classes. Accordingly, equality is not influenced by the acquired and natural differences; though from Rawls’s point of view, few people are deprived of their basic rights.