Public Reason as a Political Ideal: John Rawls’ Conception Cover Image

Javni um kao politički ideal: shvatanje Džona Rolsa
Public Reason as a Political Ideal: John Rawls’ Conception

Author(s): Đorđe Pavićević
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: Public Reason; John Rawls; Political liberalism; Moral consensus; Public justification;

Summary/Abstract: The article dealt with Rawlsian idea of public reason as a convergence point of his conception of political liberalism. The idea of public reason is taken as a norm of political justificationa as well as a political ideal. Major lines of criticism of the Rawls´s conception are also discussed in the article. The conclusion is that is possible to defend major elements of Rawls´s conception against criticism along Rawlsian lines of argumentation. The thesis advocated through the text is that it is significant legacy of Rawls´s conception of public reason that it discloses limitations of political ideal of liberal democracy. It is argued that one important cosequence is that liberalism has to disclaim its own moral superiority in order to make political ideal viable. The other is that any particular society has to find its moral bases in public reason of particular society, that is burdened with peculiar culture and history.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 33
  • Page Range: 209-235
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Serbian
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