Political Liberalism

by Rawls, John

• ISBN13: 9780231130899
• ISBN10: 0231130899
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-28
• Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services, Inc.

Summary

This book continues and revises the ideas of justice as fairness that John Rawls presented in A Theory of Justice but changes its philosophical interpretation in a fundamental way. That previous work assumed what Rawls calls a "well-ordered society," one that is stable and relatively homogenous in its basic moral beliefs and in which there is broad agreement about what constitutes the good life. Yet in modern democratic society a plurality of incompatible and irreconcilable doctrines -- religious, philosophical, and moral -- coexist within the framework of democratic institutions. Recognizing this as a permanent condition of democracy, Rawls asks how a stable and just society of free and equal citizens can live in concord when divided by reasonable but incompatible doctrines? This edition includes the essay "The Idea of Public Reason Revisited," which outlines Rawls' plans to revise Political Liberalism, which were cut short by his death. "An extraordinary well-reasoned commentary on A Theory of Justice...a decisive turn towards political philosophy." -- Times Literary Supplement

Table of Contents

Introduction	xiii
Introduction to the Paperback Edition	xxxv
PART ONE Political Liberalism: Basic Elements	1	(130)
LECTURE 1. Fundamental Ideas	3	(44)
§ 1. Addressing Two Fundamental Questions	4	(7)
§ 2. The Idea of a Political Conception of Justice	11	(4)
§ 3. The Idea of Society as a Fair System of Cooperation	15	(7)
§ 4. The Idea of the Original Position	22	(7)
§ 5. The Political Conception of the Person	29	(6)
§ 6. The Idea of a Well-Ordered Society	35	(5)
§ 7. Neither a Community nor an Association	40	(3)
§ 8. The Use of Abstract Conceptions	43	(4)
LECTURE II. The Powers of Citizens and Their Representation	47	(42)
§ 1. The Reasonable and the Rational	48	(6)
§ 2. The Burdens of Judgment	54	(4)
§ 3. Reasonable Comprehensive Doctrines	58	(8)
§ 4. The Publicity Condition: Its Three Levels	66	(6)
§ 5. Rational Autonomy: Artificial not Political	72	(5)
§ 6. Full Autonomy: Political not Ethical	77	(4)
§ 7. The Basis of Motivation in the Person	81	(5)
§ 8. Moral Psychology: Philosophical not Psychological	86	(3)
LECTURE III. Political Constructivism	89	(42)
§ 1. The Idea of a Constructivist Conception	90	(9)
§ 2. Kant's Moral Constructivism	99	(3)
§ 3. Justice as Fairness as a Constructivist View	102	(5)
§ 4. The Role of Conceptions of Society and Person	107	(3)
§ 5. Three Conceptions of Objectivity	110	(6)
§ 6. Objectivity Independent of the Causal View of Knowledge	116	(3)
§ 7. When Do Objective Reasons Exist, Politically Speaking?	119	(6)
§ 8. The Scope of Political Constructivism	125	(6)
PART TWO Political Liberalism: Three Main Ideas	131	(124)
LECTURE IV. The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus	133	(40)
§ 1. How is Political Liberalism Possible?	134	(6)
§ 2. The Question of Stability	140	(4)
§ 3. Three Features of an Overlapping Consensus	144	(6)
§ 4. An Overlapping Consensus not Indifferent or Skeptical	150	(4)
§ 5. A Political Conception Need not Be Comprehensive	154	(4)
§ 6. Steps to Constitutional Consensus	158	(6)
§ 7. Steps to Overlapping Consensus	164	(4)
§ 8. Conception and Doctrines: How Related	168	(5)
LECTURE V. Priority of Right and Ideas of the Good	173	(39)
§ 1. How a Political Conception Limits Conceptions of the Good	174	(2)
§ 2. Goodness as Rationality	176	(2)
§ 3. Primary Goods and Interpersonal Comparisons	178	(9)
§ 4. Primary Goods as Citizens' Needs	187	(3)
§ 5. Permissible Conceptions of the Good and Political Virtues	190	(5)
§ 6. Is Justice as Fairness Fair to Conceptions of the Good?	195	(6)
§ 7. The Good of Political Society	201	(6)
§ 8. That Justice as Fairness is Complete	207	(5)
LECTURE VI. The Idea of Public Reason	212	(43)
§ 1. The Questions and Forums of Public Reason	213	(3)
§ 2. Public Reason and the Ideal of Democratic Citizenship	216	(4)
§ 3. Nonpublic Reasons	220	(3)
§ 4. The Content of Public Reason	223	(4)
§ 5. The Idea of Constitutional Essentials	227	(4)
§ 6. The Supreme Court as Exemplar of Public Reason	231	(9)
§ 7. Apparent Difficulties with Public Reason	240	(7)
§ 8. The Limits of Public Reason	247	(8)
PART THREE Institutional Framework	255	(180)
LECTURE VII. The Basic Structure as Subject	257	(32)
§ 1. First Subject of Justice	257	(2)
§ 2. Unity by Appropriate Sequence	259	(3)
§ 3. Libertarianism Has No Special Role for the Basic Structure	262	(3)
§ 4. The Importance of Background Justice	265	(4)
§ 5. How the Basic Structure Affects Individuals	269	(2)
§ 6. Initial Agreement as Hypothetical and Nonhistorical	271	(4)
§ 7. Special Features of the Initial Agreement	275	(3)
§ 8. The Social Nature of Human Relationships	278	(3)
§ 9. Ideal Form for the Basic Structure	281	(4)
§ 10. Reply to Hegel's Criticism	285	(4)
LECTURE VIII. The Basic Liberties and Their Priority	289	(83)
§ 1. The Initial Aim of Justice as Fairness	291	(3)
§ 2. The Special Status of Basic Liberties	294	(5)
§ 3. Conceptions of Person and Social Cooperation	299	(5)
§ 4. The Original Position	304	(6)
§ 5. Priority of Liberties, I: Second Moral Power	310	(5)
§ 6. Priority of Liberties, II: First Moral Power	315	(9)
§ 7. Basic Liberties not Merely Formal	324	(7)
§ 8. A Fully Adequate Scheme of Basic Liberties	331	(3)
§ 9. How Liberties Fit into One Coherent Scheme	334	(6)
§ 10. Free Political Speech	340	(8)
§ 11. The Clear and Present Danger Rule	348	(8)
§ 12. Maintaining the Fair Value of Political Liberties	356	(7)
§ 13. Liberties Connected with the Second Principle	363	(5)
§ 14. The Role of Justice as Fairness	368	(4)
LECTURE IX. Reply to Habermas	372	(63)
§ 1. Two Main Differences	373	(12)
§ 2. Overlapping Consensus and Justification	385	(11)
§ 3. Liberties of the Moderns Versus the Will of the People	396	(13)
§ 4. The Roots of the Liberties	409	(12)
§ 5. Procedural Versus Substantive Justice	421	(12)
§ 6. Conclusion	433	(2)
PART FOUR The Idea of Public Reason Revisited	435	(56)
Introduction to "The Idea of Public Reason Revisited"	437	(3)
The Idea of Public Reason Revisited (1997)	440	(51)
Original Index	491	(30)
Index to the New Material	521