Being John Rawls - by Scott Alexander - Astral Codex Ten

...

Being John Rawls ... Scott Alexander Mar 19, 2026 1,880 639 186 Share I. John Rawls was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 21, 1921. Not John Rawls the famous liberal philosopher (or, rather, John Rawls the famous liberal philosopher was also born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 21, 1921, but he is not the subject of our story). This is John Rawls the alcoholic. John Rawls the alcoholic was twelve when they lifted Prohibition. He partook immediately, and dropped out of school the following year, supporting himself through a combination of odd jobs, petty crime, and handouts. When he w

saved by

• Dex Ter
• Florent Tavernier
• Lawrence Feng
• Harihar Prasad

related reading

• John Rawls - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
• How To Be Good | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• Matt Yglesias Considered As The Nietzschean Supermanastralcodexten.com
• Nintil - The Non-Non-Libertarian FAQnintil.com
• [REPOST] The Non-Libertarian FAQslatestarcodex.com
• John Rawls (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)plato.stanford.edu
• Effective altruism in the garden of ends — EA Forumforum.effectivealtruism.org
• The Deaths of Effective Altruism | WIREDwired.com
• The Levers That Money Can’t Pullmoretothat.com
• John Rawls, liberalism and what it means to live a good lifeaeon.co
• Diseased thinking: dissolving questions about disease — LessWronglesswrong.com
• Something to Protect — LessWronglesswrong.com