Resumo:
With this essay, we intend to establish a relationship between the land reform in the
country and the principles of justice of John Rawls. Because it is a relevant object of
Brazil's agrarian agenda, we aim to analyze the Brazilian agrarian issue, pointing out
the concepts of Rawlsian principles of justice and the idea of primary goods. We also
explain the concepts of original position and veil of ignorance, as well as the
principles of equality and difference. Rawls's theory of justice is a normative theory
and is part of the public policies of several countries, among which is Brazil. The
constitutional text of 1988 establishes that the discipline of land is supported by the
doctrine of the social function of property, by means of which all the wealth to be
produced must meet the social purpose. The agrarian reform, therefore, can not be
seen only as a land distribution, but as public policies for the rural area, which is in
fine tune with the principles inserted in the Brazilian Constitution. To scrutinize the
Rawlsian theory leads to the search for elements that can base the agrarian reform,
with a view to the most isonomic treatment in society, providing to all the obtaining of
the primary goods. John Rawls, in developing his theory of justice, had the scope to
supplant the utilitarian thinking that dominated law and philosophy in the 1970s in the
United States. His work builds on the idea of the founding contract of the society,
nevertheless attaches a different dimension to the notion of this social adjustment, in
which the principles of justice are established. The Harvard philosopher offers a
theory for institutions, elaborating the concept of justice as fairness, or, as Arruda
Júnior asserts, "a deontological or, what is the same, Kantian theory. Rawls opposes
the idea of purpose. It matters what is right to do and not what is good to do. The
opposite is precisely the 'teleological' theory, rejected because it offers fragile
grounds for rights and freedoms, whose violations may be justified in the name of
absolute weight and assigned to an ultimate end. Since the basic structure of society
is the main objective of justice, we can conclude, based on Rawls's theory, that the
capacity to cooperate is an essential condition for agrarian reform in Brazil.
