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I want to add something that relates Rawls to what we said in our first session.

Rawls makes a few comments on formal justice. He even refers to Chaim Perelman as a source. He says that "If we think of justice as always expressing a kind of equality, then formal justice requires that in their administration laws and institutions should apply equally (that is in the same way) to whose belonging to the classes defined by them." (Theory, section #10)

And then he adds later  that "Treating similar cases similarly is not a sufficient guarantee of substantive justice. This depends upon the principles in accordance with which the basic structure is framed." (Theory, section #10)

So I think that what Rawls is doing fits right into what we said last time. Formal justice -- treating equal cases equally -- will only get us so far. Rawls wants to go beyond formal justice and add substantive principles of justice.