Which foundations for the fight against poverty? Knowledge and motivation for Rawls and Wresinski

Abstract

Rawls and Wresinski are both concerned about the poor, but their approaches regarding what is needed to achieve social justice are very different. This paper focuses on the issue of the knowledge and motivation necessary to fight poverty. We suggest that the Wresinski approach advocating an in-depth knowledge of the poor and of the obstacles that they face in their daily lives represents a challenge to the veil of ignorance conceptual framework advocated by Rawls. In terms of motivation, while both authors do advocate some form of overlapping consensus in order to achieve a shared vision of the requirements of social justice, there are nevertheless important differences between them in how they outline the responsibilities of individuals in the fight against poverty.Poverty; Social Justice; Motivation; Knowledge