The Cambridge Companion to Rawls (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

Rawls theory of justice is a complex work with so many interrelated concepts that not only beginners but even the more experienced need help of other thinkers to better appreciate his work. This collection of essays fulfills this need. The contributors have explained in detail the concepts like 'Original Position', reflective equilibrium, and the difference principle which are the main pillars of Rawls work and also explored the relationship of his work to other areas of political philosophy and social justice. Certain underlying assumptions and thoughts not overtly found in Rawls literature have also been brought to focus. Essayists have also extended Rawls views to concerns like feminism not expressly treated by him. The essays are mainly sympathetic to Rawls point of view and also explain how some other lines of thought like communitarianism can be accommodated within Rawlsian framework. I think that value of the book could have been enhanced by including views of Rawls' main critics like Sandel and Nozik in more detail. That would have given the reader an opportunity to consider the competing political theories better. If you have read Rawls earlier and want more clarity about his views, this book will be a great help. Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 5 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Contributors......Page 11 I. PRELIMINARIES......Page 15 A. The Principles of Justice......Page 17 B. The Argument from the Original Position......Page 24 C. The Good of Justice and the Stability of a Well-Ordered Society......Page 35 A. Problems with Rawls’s Argument for Stability......Page 42 B. A Freestanding Political Conception and Overlapping Consensus......Page 46 C. Public Reason......Page 51 IV. THE LAW OF PEOPLES......Page 58 V. OUT LINE OF VOLUME......Page 65 ENDNOTES......Page 66 I......Page 76 II......Page 80 III......Page 86 IV......Page 92 V......Page 96 ENDNOTES......Page 98 1. JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS......Page 100 2. JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY......Page 105 2.1. Content: Constitutional Democracy......Page 106 2.2. Foundation: Democratic Society......Page 109 2.3. Deliberative Democracy......Page 114 3. DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT......Page 118 4. TOO LITTLE DEMOCRACY?......Page 125 Institutional Subordination......Page 129 Denigration......Page 135 But .........Page 143 ENDNOTES......Page 145 3 Rawls on Justification......Page 153 I......Page 154 II......Page 167 III......Page 171 ENDNOTES......Page 180 4 Rawls on the Relationship between Liberalism and Democracy......Page 182 1. EQUAL POLITICAL LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY......Page 184 2. CO-ORIGINALITY OF POLITICAL AND PERSONAL LIBERTY......Page 186 3. AN INTIMATE MARRIAGE......Page 188 4. COPING WITH CONFLICTS AMONG BASIC LIBERTIES......Page 195 5. EVALUATING MAJORITY RULE......Page 201 6. PUBLICLY DEFENSIBLE DISCOURSE IN POLITICS......Page 206 ENDNOTES......Page 211 5 Difference Principles......Page 214 A. Rawls’s Two Conceptions of Justice......Page 215 B. A Theory of Justice’s Three Formulations of the Difference Principle......Page 216 C. When Close-Knitness Breaks Down: More and Less Egalitarian Versions of the Difference Principle......Page 219 D. The Lexical Difference Principle and Its Radical Extensions......Page 223 A. Outcome Egalitarianism?......Page 225 B. The Least Fortunate and the Incumbents of the Worst Position......Page 227 (1) Maximin Scores......Page 230 (2) Maximin Expectations......Page 232 A. The Constraint of the First Two Principles......Page 236 B. No Resources Left for the Difference Principle?......Page 238 C. The Thick Conception of the Well-Ordered Society......Page 240 D. The Institutional Division of Labour......Page 242 E. Motivation-Conscious Institutional Engineering......Page 244 CONCLUSION......Page 245 ENDNOTES......Page 247 1. THREE EGALITARIAN CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY......Page 255 Why “Democratic” Equality?......Page 258 Democratic Equality Draws on Multiple Egalitarian Concerns......Page 260 Mitigating the Moral Arbitrariness of Certain Contingencies......Page 263 Overemphasizing Moral Arbitrariness Undermines Democratic Equality......Page 266 Is the Index of Primary Social Goods Insensitive to Important Inequalities?......Page 270 Extending Rawls’s Theory to Cover Disease and Disability......Page 271 The Social Determinants of Health: Democratic Equality is Good for Our Health......Page 273 Leaving Too Much Leeway to Individuals......Page 277 Are the Inequality-Producing Incentives Rawls Permits Unnecessary and Unjustifiable?......Page 279 What Does a Commitment to the Difference Principle Really Involve?......Page 281 How Should We Evaluate the “Shortfall” from the Ideal Result for the Worst Off?......Page 283 5. SUMMARY REMARKS......Page 284 ENDNOTES......Page 285 I. STABILITY AND CONGRUENCE: OUTLINE OF ISSUES......Page 291 II. THE QUESTION OF CONGRUENCE......Page 297 III. THE GOOD OF JUSTICE AND THE KANTIAN CONGRUENCE ARGUMENT......Page 304 IV. FINALITY AND THE PRIORITY OF JUSTICE......Page 311 V. THE TRANSITION TO POLITICAL LIBERALISM......Page 317 ENDNOTES......Page 322 8 On Rawls and Political Liberalism......Page 330 ENDNOTES......Page 360 I. THE AMBITIONS OF CONSTRUCTIVISMS IN ETHICS......Page 361 II. THE EVOLUTION OF RAWLS’S CONSTRUCTIVISM......Page 363 III. RAWLS’S ACCOUNT OF KANT’S CONSTRUCTIVISM......Page 367 IV. KANT ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF REASON......Page 371 V. SOME CONCLUSIONS......Page 375 ENDNOTES......Page 377 10 Public Reason......Page 382 I. PUBLICITY IN A THEORY OF JUSTICE......Page 383 II. FROM PUBLICITY TO PUBLIC REASON......Page 389 III. THE DOMAIN OF PUBLIC REASON......Page 394 IV. THE RULES OF PUBLIC REASON......Page 398 V. CONCLUSION......Page 404 ENDNOTES......Page 405 11 Rawls on Constitutionalism and Constitutional Law......Page 408 A. Political Liberalism as Constitutional Contractarianism......Page 409 B. Political Liberalism’s Restricted Universe......Page 411 C. “Justice As Fairness” (the “Two Principles of Justice”) as a Contentious Instance of Political Liberalism......Page 412 D. The Categories of Rawlsian Constitutional Analysis......Page 414 E. Constitutional Essentials and Judicial Review......Page 417 F. Constitutional Essentials and Transparency......Page 418 G. On the Margin: Fair Value of the Political Liberties and Basic Material Needs......Page 420 A. “The Law of the Land”......Page 422 B. The Libertarian Core in Constitutional Law......Page 423 C. An Exemplary Case: Same-Sex Marriage......Page 424 D. The Basic Liberties: “Formal” or Material?......Page 428 E. Application of the Basic Liberties: “Vertical” Only, or “Horizontal” Too?......Page 429 ENDNOTES......Page 434 12 Rawls and Utilitarianism......Page 440 ENDNOTES......Page 467 13 Rawls and Communitarianism......Page 474 Conception of the Person......Page 478 Asocial Individualism......Page 480 Universalism......Page 483 Neutrality......Page 484 Conception of the Person......Page 489 Asocial Individualism......Page 491 Universalism......Page 492 Neutrality......Page 495 ENDNOTES......Page 499 14 Rawls and Feminism......Page 502 A. Seeking Reflective Equilibrium......Page 503 B. The Original Position......Page 505 C. The Well-Ordered Society......Page 510 II. JUSTICE IN THE FAMILY......Page 513 III. RELIGION AND PUBLIC REASON......Page 521 IV. DEPENDENCY AND WOMEN’S WORK......Page 525 CONCLUSION......Page 528 ENDNOTES......Page 529 WORKS BY JOHN RAWLS......Page 535 BOOKS ON OR SUBSTANTIALLY ABOUT RAWLS......Page 538 ANTHOLOGIES ON RAWLS......Page 539 ARTICLES ON A THEORY OF JUSTICE......Page 540 POLITICAL LIBERALISM......Page 545 RAWLS AND SOCIAL CONTRACT DOCTRINE......Page 549 LIBERALISM AND THE PRIORITY OF BASIC LIBERTIES......Page 550 EGALITARIANISM, DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, AND THE DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE......Page 551 ON JUSTIFICATION IN MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: CONSTRUCTIVISM, REFLECTIVE EQUILIBRIUM, AND PUBLIC REASON......Page 554 RAWLS’S MORAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE STABILITY OF JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS......Page 556 RAWLS AND KANT: THE KANTIAN INTERPRETATION AND THE CONCEPTION OF THE PERSON......Page 557 RAWLS, JUSTICE, AND INDIVIDUAL DESERT......Page 558 RAWLS, CONSTITUTIONALISM, AND THE RULE OF LAW......Page 559 RAWLS AND UTILITARIANISM......Page 560 RAWLS, ECONOMICS, AND SOCIAL CHOICE THEORY......Page 561 RAWLS AND COMMUNITARIANISM......Page 562 RAWLS AND FEMINISM......Page 563 THE LAW OF PEOPLES AND INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE......Page 565 RAWLS, MARX, AND LEFT CRITICISM......Page 566 RAWLS AND RELIGION......Page 567 DISCUSSIONS AND CRITICISMS OF RAWLS’S EARLY WORKS......Page 568 MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSIONS AND REVIEWS......Page 569 INDEX......Page 571 Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 Contents 9 Contributors 11 Introduction John Rawls – An Overview 15 I. PRELIMINARIES 15 II. A THEORY OF JUSTICE: JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS 17 A. The Principles of Justice 17 B. The Argument from the Original Position 24 C. The Good of Justice and the Stability of a Well-Ordered Society 35 III. POLITICAL LIBERALISM 42 A. Problems with Rawls’s Argument for Stability 42 B. A Freestanding Political Conception and Overlapping Consensus 46 C. Public Reason 51 IV. THE LAW OF PEOPLES 58 V. OUT LINE OF VOLUME 65 ENDNOTES 66 1 Rawls and Liberalism 76 I 76 II 80 III 86 IV 92 V 96 ENDNOTES 98 2 For a Democratic Society 100 1. JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS 100 2. JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY 105 2.1. Content: Constitutional Democracy 106 2.2. Foundation: Democratic Society 109 2.3. Deliberative Democracy 114 3. DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT 118 4. TOO LITTLE DEMOCRACY? 125 Institutional Subordination 129 Denigration 135 But ... 143 ENDNOTES 145 3 Rawls on Justification 153 I 154 II 167 III 171 ENDNOTES 180 4 Rawls on the Relationship between Liberalism and Democracy 182 1. EQUAL POLITICAL LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY 184 2. CO-ORIGINALITY OF POLITICAL AND PERSONAL LIBERTY 186 3. AN INTIMATE MARRIAGE 188 4. COPING WITH CONFLICTS AMONG BASIC LIBERTIES 195 5. EVALUATING MAJORITY RULE 201 6. PUBLICLY DEFENSIBLE DISCOURSE IN POLITICS 206 ENDNOTES 211 5 Difference Principles 214 I. THE CRITERION 215 A. Rawls’s Two Conceptions of Justice 215 B. A Theory of Justice’s Three Formulations of the Difference Principle 216 C. When Close-Knitness Breaks Down: More and Less Egalitarian Versions of the Difference Principle 219 D. The Lexical Difference Principle and Its Radical Extensions 223 II. THE DISTRIBUENDUM 225 A. Outcome Egalitarianism? 225 B. The Least Fortunate and the Incumbents of the Worst Position 227 C. Guaranteed Income or Wage Subsidies? 230 (1) Maximin Scores 230 D. Guaranteed Income or Wage Subsidies? 232 (2) Maximin Expectations 232 III. THE TOOLS 236 A. The Constraint of the First Two Principles 236 B. No Resources Left for the Difference Principle? 238 C. The Thick Conception of the Well-Ordered Society 240 D. The Institutional Division of Labour 242 E. Motivation-Conscious Institutional Engineering 244 CONCLUSION 245 ENDNOTES 247 6 Democratic Equality Rawls’s Complex Egalitarianism 255 1. THREE EGALITARIAN CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY 255 2. DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY AND MORALLY ARBITRARY CONTINGENCIES 258 Why “Democratic” Equality? 258 Democratic Equality Draws on Multiple Egalitarian Concerns 260 Mitigating the Moral Arbitrariness of Certain Contingencies 263 Overemphasizing Moral Arbitrariness Undermines Democratic Equality 266 3. PRIMARY SOCIAL GOODS AND THE NEEDS AND CAPABILITIES OF CITIZENS 270 Is the Index of Primary Social Goods Insensitive to Important Inequalities? 270 Extending Rawls’s Theory to Cover Disease and Disability 271 The Social Determinants of Health: Democratic Equality is Good for Our Health 273 4. IS DEMOCRATIC EQUALITY NOT EGALITARIAN ENOUGH? 277 Leaving Too Much Leeway to Individuals 277 Are the Inequality-Producing Incentives Rawls Permits Unnecessary and Unjustifiable? 279 What Does a Commitment to the Difference Principle Really Involve? 281 How Should We Evaluate the “Shortfall” from the Ideal Result for the Worst Off? 283 5. SUMMARY REMARKS 284 ENDNOTES 285 7 Congruence and the Good of Justice 291 I. STABILITY AND CONGRUENCE: OUTLINE OF ISSUES 291 II. THE QUESTION OF CONGRUENCE 297 III. THE GOOD OF JUSTICE AND THE KANTIAN CONGRUENCE ARGUMENT 304 IV. FINALITY AND THE PRIORITY OF JUSTICE 311 V. THE TRANSITION TO POLITICAL LIBERALISM 317 ENDNOTES 322 8 On Rawls and Political Liberalism 330 ENDNOTES 360 9 Constructivism in Rawls and Kant 361 I. THE AMBITIONS OF CONSTRUCTIVISMS IN ETHICS 361 II. THE EVOLUTION OF RAWLS’S CONSTRUCTIVISM 363 III. RAWLS’S ACCOUNT OF KANT’S CONSTRUCTIVISM 367 IV. KANT ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF REASON 371 V. SOME CONCLUSIONS 375 ENDNOTES 377 10 Public Reason 382 I. PUBLICITY IN A THEORY OF JUSTICE 383 II. FROM PUBLICITY TO PUBLIC REASON 389 III. THE DOMAIN OF PUBLIC REASON 394 IV. THE RULES OF PUBLIC REASON 398 V. CONCLUSION 404 ENDNOTES 405 11 Rawls on Constitutionalism and Constitutional Law 408 I. RAWLS ON CONSTITUTIONALISM: CONTRACTARIAN LEGITIMACY AND CONSTITUTIONAL ESSENTIALS 409 A. Political Liberalism as Constitutional Contractarianism 409 B. Political Liberalism’s Restricted Universe 411 C. “Justice As Fairness” (the “Two Principles of Justice”) as a Contentious Instance of Political Liberalism 412 D. The Categories of Rawlsian Constitutional Analysis 414 E. Constitutional Essentials and Judicial Review 417 F. Constitutional Essentials and Transparency 418 G. On the Margin: Fair Value of the Political Liberties and Basic Material Needs 420 II. RAWLS AND AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 422 A. “The Law of the Land” 422 B. The Libertarian Core in Constitutional Law 423 C. An Exemplary Case: Same-Sex Marriage 424 D. The Basic Liberties: “Formal” or Material? 428 E. Application of the Basic Liberties: “Vertical” Only, or “Horizontal” Too? 429 ENDNOTES 434 12 Rawls and Utilitarianism 440 ENDNOTES 467 13 Rawls and Communitarianism 474 COMMUNITARIAN OBJECTIONS AND RESPONSES 478 Conception of the Person 478 Asocial Individualism 480 Universalism 483 Neutrality 484 OPEN QUESTIONS 489 Conception of the Person 489 Asocial Individualism 491 Universalism 492 Neutrality 495 ENDNOTES 499 14 Rawls and Feminism 502 I. CARE, EMOTION, AND RELATIONSHIP 503 A. Seeking Reflective Equilibrium 503 B. The Original Position 505 C. The Well-Ordered Society 510 II. JUSTICE IN THE FAMILY 513 III. RELIGION AND PUBLIC REASON 521 IV. DEPENDENCY AND WOMEN’S WORK 525 CONCLUSION 528 ENDNOTES 529 BIBLIOGRAPHY 535 BIBLIOGRAPHY: THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO JOHN RAWLS 535 WORKS BY JOHN RAWLS 535 BOOKS ON OR SUBSTANTIALLY ABOUT RAWLS 538 ANTHOLOGIES ON RAWLS 539 ARTICLES ON A THEORY OF JUSTICE 540 POLITICAL LIBERALISM 545 RAWLS AND SOCIAL CONTRACT DOCTRINE 549 LIBERALISM AND THE PRIORITY OF BASIC LIBERTIES 550 EGALITARIANISM, DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, AND THE DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE 551 ON JUSTIFICATION IN MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: CONSTRUCTIVISM, REFLECTIVE EQUILIBRIUM, AND PUBLIC REASON 554 RAWLS’S MORAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE STABILITY OF JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS 556 RAWLS AND KANT: THE KANTIAN INTERPRETATION AND THE CONCEPTION OF THE PERSON 557 RAWLS, JUSTICE, AND INDIVIDUAL DESERT 558 RAWLS, CONSTITUTIONALISM, AND THE RULE OF LAW 559 RAWLS AND UTILITARIANISM 560 RAWLS, ECONOMICS, AND SOCIAL CHOICE THEORY 561 RAWLS AND COMMUNITARIANISM 562 RAWLS AND FEMINISM 563 THE LAW OF PEOPLES AND INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE 565 RAWLS, MARX, AND LEFT CRITICISM 566 CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERTARIAN CRITICISMS 567 RAWLS AND RELIGION 567 DISCUSSIONS AND CRITICISMS OF RAWLS’S EARLY WORKS 568 MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSIONS AND REVIEWS 569 INDEX 571 Each volume of this series of companions to major philosophers contains specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars and will serve as a reference work for students and nonspecialists. John Rawls is the most significant and influential philosopher and moral philosopher of the twentieth century. His work has profoundly shaped contemporary discussions of social, political and economic justice in philosophy, law, political science, economics and other social disciplines. In this exciting collection of new essays, many of the world's leading political and moral theorists discuss the full range of Rawls's contribution to the concepts of political and economic justice, democracy, liberalism, constitutionalism, and international justice. There are also assessments of Rawls's controversial relationships with feminism, utilitarianism and communitarianism. New readers will find this the most accessible guide to Rawls currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Rawls Each volume of this series of companions to major philosophers contains specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars and will serve as a reference work for students and nonspecialists. John Rawls is the most significant and influential philosopher and moral philosopher of the twentieth century. His work has profoundly shaped contemporary discussions of social, political and economic justice in philosophy, law, political science, economics and other social disciplines. In this exciting collection of essays, many of the world's leading political and moral theorists discuss the full range of Rawls's contribution to the concepts of political and economic justice, democracy, liberalism, constitutionalism, and international justice. There are also assessments of Rawls's controversial relationships with feminism, utilitarianism and communitarianism. New readers will find this to be an accessible guide to Rawls. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of developments in the interpretation of Rawls. John Rawls is the most significant and influential moral philosopher of the twentieth century. His work has profoundly affected contemporary discussions of social, political and economic justice in philosophy, law, political science, economics and other social disciplines. In this collection of new essays, many of the world's leading political and moral theorists discuss the full range of Rawls's contribution to the concepts of political and economic justice, democracy, liberalism, constitutionalism and international justice. Introduction : John Rawls - an overview /Samuel Freeman --Rawls and liberalism /Thomas Nagel --For a democratic society /Joshua Cohen --Rawls on justification /T.M. Scanlon --Rawls on the relationship bewtween liberalism and democracy /Amy Gutmann --Difference principles /Philippe Van Parijs --Democratic equality : Rawls's complex egalitarianism /Norman Daniels --Congruence and the good of justice /Samuel Freeman --On Rawls and political liberalism /Burton Dreben --Constructivism in Rawls and Kant /Onora O'Neill