AMARTYA SEN’S IDEA OF JUSTICE, AND ITS RELATIONS WITH JOHN 
                       RAWLS AND ADAM SMITH 
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                               
                       A THESIS SUBMITTED TO 
                  THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 
                             OF 
                    MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY 
                               
                               
                             BY 
                               
                               
                               
                           UMUT DAĞ 
                               
                               
                               
                 IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 
                             FOR 
                     THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS 
                             IN 
                     THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY 
                               
                               
                          SEPTEMBER 2015 
                         
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                                      Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences  
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                     Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık  
                                                                                                                                                 Director  
                                       
                                      I  certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of 
                                      Master of Arts.  
                                       
                                                                                                                                        Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil Turan  
                                                                                                                                          Head of Department  
                                       
                                      This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully 
                                      adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts.  
                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                       Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil Turan  
                                                                                                                                                Supervisor  
                                      Examining Committee Members  
                                      Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil Turan (METU, PHIL)                                              ________________________  
                                      Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Parkan (METU, PHIL)                                         ________________________  
                                      Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul R. Turan (A.Ü., PHIL)   ________________________ 
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           I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and 
           presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare 
           that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced 
           all material and results that are not original to this work.  
            
            
                                
                                
                               Name, Last name : Umut Dağ 
                               Signature : 
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                                                                  ABSTRACT 
                             AMARTYA SEN’S IDEA OF JUSTICE, AND ITS RELATIONS WITH JOHN 
                                                        RAWLS AND ADAM SMITH 
                                                                          
                                                                    Dağ, Umut 
                                                        M.A., Department of Philosophy 
                                                       Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil Turan 
                                                            September 2015, 74 pages 
                                                                          
                          The aim of this thesis is to examine Amartya Sen s idea of justice and its relation to 
                          John Rawls and Adam Smith. Amartya Sen s idea of justice could be seen as a 
                          critique of Rawls theory of justice as well as a proposal of a new approach instead. 
                          Sen  s  critique  of  Rawls  theory  of  justice  is  basically  based  on  the  critique  of 
                          transcendental institutionalism. Instead Sen offers the realization focused comparison 
                          as an alternative for the idea of justice. To explicate this alternative approach Sen 
                          introduces  Adam  Smith  s  impartial  spectator.  Sen  believes  that  Adam  Smith  s 
                          impartial spectator plays an essential role in deciding for the standards of justice. 
                           
                           
                           
                           
                          Keywords: transcendental institutionalism, realization focused comparison, impartial 
                          spectator, theory of justice                                     
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