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A well-ordered society with publicly acknowledged principles - a re-interpretation of Rawlsian social contract
John Rawls is arguably the most influential political philosopher of the twentieth century. In his most seminal books, A Theory of Justice (1971), Rawls claims that his aim is to âpresent a conception of justice which generalizes and carries to a higher level of abstraction the familiar theory of the social contract as found, say, in Locke, Rousseau, and Kant.â However, what role does the idea of social contract play in Rawlsâ theory is rarely discussed among Rawls scholars. Some scholars contend that Rawlsian social contract is a kind of hypothetical contract which people would make behind the âveil of ignorance,â and this idea is redundant in Rawlsâ theory. In this poster, I would like to argue that Rawlsian social contract should rather be understood as a social agreement on political principles which people would make in a well-ordered society. The idea of social contract is necessary because it represents a political ideal in Rawlsâ mind
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Rawls and deliberative democracy
This chapter offers arguments to support the following conjectures: (1) despite claims by Rawls and some commentators, Rawls is not and cannot be a deliberative democrat; the evidence for this can be gleaned by focussing on various interpretations of the structure of Rawlsâ arguments in A Theory of Justice (1972) and Political Liberalism (1993) respectively; and (2) if we ask more directly how the ideal dialogue of the original position might be approximated in real-world conditions, we can reach suggestive conclusions about institutions and deliberative democracy radically different from those reached by Rawls himself
Justice and the fetus: rawls, children, and abortion
In a footnote to the first edition of Political Liberalism, John Rawls introduced an example of how public reason could deal with controversial issues. He intended this example to show that his system of political liberalism could deal with such problems by considering only political values, without the introduction of comprehensive moral doctrines. Unfortunately, Rawls chose âthe troubled question of abortionâ as the issue that would illustrate this. In the case of abortion, Rawls argued, âthe equality of women as equal citizensâ overrides both âthe ordered reproduction of political society over timeâ and also âthe due respect for human life.â It seems fair to say that this was not the best choice of example and also that Rawls did not argue for his example particularly well: a whole subset of the Rawlsian literature concerns this question alone
Theories of Distributive Justice and Limitations on Taxation: What Rawls Demands from Tax Systems Symposium - Rawls and the Law: Panel VI: Property, Taxation, and Distributive Justice
This Essay attempts to map out how such an inquiry would be conducted in light of Rawls. Rather than searching in theories of justice for required precepts of taxation, we might more fruitfully ask what constraints, if any, a particular theory of justice imposes on the tax system. Application of such an approach to Rawls\u27s theory of justice may explain his apparent preference for a flat consumptionbased tax. This preference is otherwise quite puzzling in light of much of what Rawls wrote about economic justice, and might lead us to expect him to endorse a progressive income tax. If Rawls\u27s discussion of economic justice is treated as offering limitations rather than mandates for taxation, then a variety of tax systems may be part of a just Rawlsian society, including a flat consumption-based tax. Extension of this approach to other political theories might produce a shorter list of acceptable taxes, depending on the extent to which the chosen theory is likely to constrain government action
The Ignorant Observer
Most prominent models of economic justice (and especially those proposed by Harsanyi and Rawls) are based on the assumption that impartiality is required for making moral decisions. However, although Harsanyi and Rawls agree on that, and furthermore agree on the fact that impartiality can be obtained under appropriate conditions of ignorance, they strongly disagree on the consequences of these assumptions. According to Harsanyi, they provide a justification for the utilitarian doctrine, whereas Rawls considers that they imply egalitarianism. We propose here an extension of Harsanyi's Impartial Observer Theorem, that is based on the representation of ignorance as the set of all possible probability distributions. We obtain a characterization of the observer's preferences that, under our most restrictive conditions, is a linear combination of Harsanyi's and Rawls' criteria. Furthermore, this representation is ethically meaningful, in the sense that individuals' utilities are cardinally measurable and unit comparable. This allows us to conclude that the impartiality requirement cannot be used to decide between Rawls' and Harsanyi's positions. Finally, we defend the view that a (strict) combination of Harsanyi's and Rawls' criteria provides a reasonable rule for social decisions.Impartiality, justice, decision under ignorance.
Social Position and Distributive Justice: Experimental Evidence
Using a simple, double-blind dictator experiment, we examine the extent to which subjects\u27 choices of distributive shares are influenced by unearned social position. We measure social position by the initial distributive shares (resources) and the subjects\u27 ability to determine the final distributive shares (power). We find that subjects\u27 decisions are consistent with Rawls\u27 (1971) hypothesis that individuals expect a greater share when in a position with more power and initial resources. Finally, we test if subjects\u27 choices under a laboratory veil of ignorance are consistent with Rawls\u27 concept of distributive justice. Veiled individuals exhibit preferences that are less risk-averse and have greater variance than Rawls hypothesized. [excerpt
Three Remarks on âReflective Equilibriumâ
John Rawlsâ âreflective equilibriumâ ranges amongst the most popular conceptions in contemporary ethics when it comes to the basic methodological question of how to justify and trade off different normative positions and attitudes. Even where Rawlsâ specific contractualist account is not adhered to, âreflective equilibriumâ is readily adopted as the guiding idea of coherentist approaches, seeking moral justification not in a purely deductive or inductive manner, but in some balancing procedure that will eventually procure a stable adjustment of relevant doctrines and standpoints. However, it appears that the widespread use of this idea has led to some considerable deviations from its meaning within Rawlsâ original framework and to a critical loss of conceptual cogency as an ethico-hermeneutical tool. This contribution identifies three kinds of âbalancingâ constellations that are frequently, but inadequately brought forth under the heading of Rawlsian âreflective equilibriumâ: balancing theoretical accounts against intuitive convictions; balancing general principles against particular judgements; balancing opposite ethical conceptions or divergent moral statements, respectively. It is argued that each of these applications departs from Rawlsâ original construction of âreflective equilibriumâ and also deprives the idea of its reliability in clarifying and weighing moral stances
RAWLSâ DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE: ABSOLUTE vs. RELATIVE INEQUALITY
In the book âA Theory of Justiceâ, John Rawls examines the notion of a just society. More specifically, he develops a conception of justiceâJustice as Fairnessâderived from his novel interpretation of the social contract. Central to his account are two lexically-ordered principles of justice by which primary social institutions, or the basic structure of society, are ideally to be organized and regulated. Broadly speaking, the second of Rawlsâ two principles pertains to âthe distribution of income and wealthâ, and its formulation is to be understood as an expression of Rawlsâ Difference Principleâroughly, the principle that âinequality in expectation is permissible only if lowering it would make the [worst-off] class even more worse off.â1 2
I want to suggest that Rawlsâ Difference Principle (DP) entails the following worrisome outcome: Because DP maximizes the absolute level of expectation (and disregards the relative level), it authorizes potentially immense levels of inequality, such that this inequality itself can become a source of social discord and injustice. This paper will (§2) present Rawlsâ formulation of DP, (§3) motivate the worrisome outcome entailed by DP, and (§4) offer a prima facie plausible solution in the form of an addendum to DP
The Methodological Irrelevance of Reflective Equilibrium
John Rawlsâ method of reflective equilibrium is the most influential methodology in contemporary ethics.This paper argues that this influence is undeserved, for two reasons. First, reflective equilibrium fails to accomplish two tasks that give us reason to care about methodology. On the one hand, it fails to explain how (or whether) moral knowledge is possible.This is because the method is explicitly oriented towards the distinct (and less interesting) task of characterizing our moral sensibilities. On the other hand, the method fails to provide an informative way of adjudicating central methodological debates in ethics. Second, where Rawlsâ method âand the background methodology he uses to motivate it âdo have substance, that substance is implausible. The role of dispositions in the method entails that it endorses obviously irrational inferences. Further, the method makes substantively implausible distinctions between the dispositions that are allowed to play a methodological role. Rawls' background methodology appeals to the idea of a psychology in âwide reflective equilibriumâ. However, both formal and empirical path-dependence considerations strongly suggest that there is nothing even minimally determinate that is someoneâs psychology in âwide reflective equilibriumâ. I close by exploring salient attempts to salvage the spirit of reflective equilibrium by abandoning elements of Rawlsâ approach. I argue that none of these attempts succeed. I conclude that appeal to the method of reflective equilibrium is not a helpful means of addressing pressing methodological questions in ethics. In a slogan, reflective equilibrium is methodologically irrelevant
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