Abstract: Whether and how can basic environmental goods be included on the list of primary goods and then become appropriate for Rawls’s theory of distributive justice? There are two main approaches to address this issue. The first approach is to extend directly the list of primary goods to include the basic environmental goods in Rawls’ theory of distributive justice, starting from the environmental dimension which has actually been ignored by Rawls in his understanding of primary goods. The second approach is to prove the rationality of including the basic environmental goods on the list of social primary goods by discussing Rawls’ discourse upon “justice in health care” in his later political liberalism and showing the importance of the basic environmental goods in respect of maintaining “minimum essential capacities for being a normal and fully cooperating member of society”.

Key words: environmental goods , Rawls , primary goods , environmental justice