JOHN RAWLS: THE PAST AND PRESENT OF A MORAL AND POLITICAL THEORY
JOHN RAWLS’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/fd2022.01.044Keywords:
Rawls, Romania, contemporary politics and society, justice, democracy, dialogue, citizenAbstract
When John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice was published in 1971, it brought a strong, inspiring, and refreshing creative impetus in Anglo-Saxon philosophy. Since then, Rawls’ work has been criticized on several grounds, mainly related to its Kantian formalism. However, ideas and theories are not born and do not exist in a social and political vacuum. Read in different historical contexts they can reveal new meanings and deliver specific messages, which are tailored to specific audiences and political cultures. I argue in my paper that, reflecting this reality and my own life experience, Rawls’ concep- tion of justice and of a well-ordered society always remains actual. An important part of this actuali- ty is revealed in the manner in which the theory inspired Romanian society in its post-communist search for models of citizenship. It is also revealed by the message it delivers to today’s divided and polarized societies, where solidarity has been corroded by neoliberalism and a sense of fairness and reasonableness has been weakened by an increasingly noxious agonistic spirit.
References
Rawls, J. (1982). Social Unity and Primary Goods. In: A. Sen, B. Williams (Eds.), Utilitarianism and Beyond (pp. 159-185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611964.010
Rawls, J. (1999). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
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