罗尔斯关于“正义”的论述激发起了学界持续经年的讨论。如何在思想谱系的梳理中理解罗尔斯所承继的思想传统，解析他与休谟、康德、伯林等思想家之间的异同，值得深入探讨。从反对“一元论”出发，罗尔斯在多元和稳定的视角下思考“正义”的实现，构建起了一个“秩序井然的社会模式”。理解和推进罗尔斯“正义论”的一种更好方式，也许并不仅仅在于从规范性维度做出理论论证，还要针对这一理论的历史语境加以分析。考察现有类别的适用性，评估力量平衡的变化，引入社会转型这一实际的历史发展运动，并对社会运动的政治化进行社会学和历史学研究，也许更有助于人们深入思考“正义”的实现问题。

John Rawls’ conception of “justice” has stimulated ongoing discussions in the academic circle. Resituating Rawls in a genealogy of ideas, this article explores the intellectual traditions inherited by Rawls and illuminates affinities and differences between him and a group of thinkers including Hume, Kant, and Berlin. With an opposition to unmitigated ‘monism’, Rawls constructed his model of a well-ordered society based on the plurality of moral attitudes and the stability of just arrangements. Perhaps a better way to understand and develop Rawls’ “theory of justice” doesn’t merely lie in theoretical arguments advanced from a normative perspective. It also demands context-sensitive analysis. The applicability of the categories on offer needs to be surveyed, the shifting balance of forces must be assessed, the actual historical development of social transformation needs to be considered, and the politicization of social movements requires sociological and historical study. Only on that basis can we deepen our thoughts about the possibility of realizing the ideal of justice.