An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. Philosophy Bibliography: leaves 119-124 John Rawls presents a carefully crafted justification of liberalism designed to be acceptable to certain pluralistic societies. The acceptability of his justification depends, in large part, on its b...
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ftmemorialunivdc:oai:collections.mun.ca:theses3/4309 2023-05-15T17:23:32+02:00 An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism Chafe, Roger, 1970- Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Philosophy 1921-2002 2000 v, 124 leaves Image/jpeg; Application/pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses3/id/4309 eng eng Electronic Theses and Dissertations (38.96 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Chafe_Roger.pdf a1475508 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses3/id/4309 The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries Rawls John 1921-2002 Liberalism Justice Text Electronic thesis or dissertation 2000 ftmemorialunivdc 2015-08-06T19:17:37Z Thesis (M.Phil.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. Philosophy Bibliography: leaves 119-124 John Rawls presents a carefully crafted justification of liberalism designed to be acceptable to certain pluralistic societies. The acceptability of his justification depends, in large part, on its being 'neutral' with regard to the reasonable comprehensive doctrines within these societies. The main idea is that within societies whose members do not have a shared conception of the good the justification of political institutions cannot be based on assumptions which are contentious to any reasonable group. In this paper, I examine Rawls' attempt to provide a neutral justification by breaking his justification into three stages: I) the attempt to justify adopting a conception of justice generally; 2) the attempt to justify adopting a normative liberal conception of justice; and 3) the attempt to justify adopting a specific normative liberal conception of justice, i.e., his conception of justice as fairness. This novel way of looking at Rawls' work allows us to best evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of his justification and the project of liberal neutrality more generally. Presenting Rawls in this way also illustrates how writers like Sandel, Habermas, and Rorty misinterpret key aspects of Rawls' project. I conclude by saying that while Rawls is fairly successful in providing a neutral justification for certain liberal societies, maintaining this neutrality hampers 'justice as fairness' from contributing more clearly to current political debates within liberal societies. Thesis Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
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Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
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English |
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Rawls John 1921-2002 Liberalism Justice |
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Rawls John 1921-2002 Liberalism Justice Chafe, Roger, 1970- An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
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Rawls John 1921-2002 Liberalism Justice |
description |
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. Philosophy Bibliography: leaves 119-124 John Rawls presents a carefully crafted justification of liberalism designed to be acceptable to certain pluralistic societies. The acceptability of his justification depends, in large part, on its being 'neutral' with regard to the reasonable comprehensive doctrines within these societies. The main idea is that within societies whose members do not have a shared conception of the good the justification of political institutions cannot be based on assumptions which are contentious to any reasonable group. In this paper, I examine Rawls' attempt to provide a neutral justification by breaking his justification into three stages: I) the attempt to justify adopting a conception of justice generally; 2) the attempt to justify adopting a normative liberal conception of justice; and 3) the attempt to justify adopting a specific normative liberal conception of justice, i.e., his conception of justice as fairness. This novel way of looking at Rawls' work allows us to best evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of his justification and the project of liberal neutrality more generally. Presenting Rawls in this way also illustrates how writers like Sandel, Habermas, and Rorty misinterpret key aspects of Rawls' project. I conclude by saying that while Rawls is fairly successful in providing a neutral justification for certain liberal societies, maintaining this neutrality hampers 'justice as fairness' from contributing more clearly to current political debates within liberal societies. |
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Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Philosophy |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Chafe, Roger, 1970- |
author_facet |
Chafe, Roger, 1970- |
author_sort |
Chafe, Roger, 1970- |
title |
An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
title_short |
An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
title_full |
An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
title_fullStr |
An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
title_full_unstemmed |
An examination of Rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
title_sort |
examination of rawls' neutral justification of liberalism |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses3/id/4309 |
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1921-2002 |
genre |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
op_source |
Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries |
op_relation |
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (38.96 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Chafe_Roger.pdf a1475508 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses3/id/4309 |
op_rights |
The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. |
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1766113034817765376 |