John Rawls - Political Philosophy PDF

# John Rawls- Political Philosophy According to Rawls, political philosophy is arising in the time of deep conflict, when a society struggles to find any agreement in the form of agreeing rational principles. - **Ex:** The principle of Liberalism originates in the Wars of religion during the 16th...

# John Rawls- Political Philosophy According to Rawls, political philosophy is arising in the time of deep conflict, when a society struggles to find any agreement in the form of agreeing rational principles. - **Ex:** The principle of Liberalism originates in the Wars of religion during the 16th and 17th Century. - **Conflict between liberty and equality** Rawls talked about the conflict in democratic society between liberty and equality. - **Liberty** - **Individual** - Locke and liberty of modern - Private freedom - Personal freedom - Individual is free from unnecessary state interference - **Collective** - Rousseau - Common good - Part of ancient democratic traditions - **Equality** According to Rawls, the aim of political philosophy should be finding a balance between these disagreements, by proposing a balancing principle to maintain equilibrium between equality and democracy. - **Political philosophy aims to:** - Propose principle to maintain balance between modern and ancient. - **Another aspect of political philosophy:** - Orientation and conceptual space It helps people to understand their place within their society and how one is related to its institutions. - **Provides a framework of:** - Thinking about society's goal not just as an individual but as a collective group with shared history. - Individual good and shared history - Collective good - **III. Aspect → Reconciliation:** - Hegel It involves helping people to accept and understand their society even in the case if they feel dissatisfaction. - **He also talks about reasonable pluralism, which means the disagreement that we have.** - We both are reasonable in nature - Political philosophy helps people to reconcile within the diversities - "When we look at the world rationally, the world looks rationally back" - Hegel. - We are to accept and affirm our social world positively, not merely to be resigned to it - **IV. Principle → Realistically Utopian** It involves what a democratic and a just society could look like while staying realistic about what is actually possible in the real world. - **Encourages us to be hopeful about the future while acknowledging the changes possible within certain limits.** - While accepting the present limitations. - We hope a Utopian future - **Contract - Contradiction:** - Cooperation - Clineancel - Tolerance - Justice - Compromise - **Four roles of political philosophy:** - **Practical role (Guiding reason and judgment)** - Political philosophy helps in providing a framework for public reasoning and judgment about social and political institutions. - It provides clarity on complex concepts, guiding how a society should be organized by affirming - - - - - - - - Such as justice, fairness and equality. - **Reconciliation role** - Political philosophy can help reconcile individuals to the institutions and practices of their society by explaining how those structures align with principle of justice. - **Role of Orientation** - It talks about the way in which people need to understand their role/place in the society. - **Role of Utopian** - Political philosophy also has a forward looking role, imagining how the world could be different and better by ideal yet feasible alternatives to current political structures. - **Reasonable Citizens** Reasonable citizens want to live in a society in which they can cooperate with their fellow citizens on terms that are acceptable to all. - **They are willing to propose and abide by mutually acceptable - - - - - - - - - - - - --** - - yiure rules, given the assurance that other will do so. - **Each citizen has their own 'Comprehensive doctrine'.** - Yet because reasonable citizens are reasonable they are unwilling to impose their own comprehensive doctrines on others who are also willing to search for mutually agreeable rules. - **Public reason** - Citizens must reasonably believe that all citizens can reasonably accept the enforcement of a particular set of basic laws. - It is unreasonable for the citizens to attempt to impose what they see as the whole truth on others. - **Justice as Fairness** Justice as fairness is Rawl's theory of justice for a liberal society. As a member of the family of liberal political conceptions of justice - - - - - -- - **It provides a framework for legitimate use of political power.** - **The aim of justice as fairness is to provide an acceptable philosophical and moral basis for democratic institutions** - **Justice as fairness (Cooperation)** - **`Society`** - **Mutual cooperation** - **Public use of reason** - **Well-ordered society** - **Veil of ignorance** - **Basic structure** - **Original position** - **Fair/free and equal citizen.** - **Reasonable Pluralism** - Shared notion of Justice and fairness. - **Society as a fair system of cooperation** The most fundamental idea in this conception of justice is the idea of society as a fair system of social cooperation. - **The central organizing idea of Social cooperation - Features:** - **Social cooperation is different from mere social coordination** - T - - - - - - of cohraliste central. - Instead of - - - - - -- - Authority, Rawls believe in public recognized rules and cooperation. - **The idea of cooperation includes the idea of fair terms of cooperation.** - Fair terms of cooperation specify an idea of reciprocity or mutuality. - **The idea of each participant's rational advantage or good.** - Each participant seeks to advance their own rational identity/ (interest) benefits and aiming to achieve their personal good. - **Reasonably means one is willing to propose and accept principles that ensure favourable - - - - - - - -** - **Being rationale means acting in a way that maximizes one's own advantage. Even if it is not to be fair. It might be rationale but not reasonable - - - - - - - -** - **Political conception of justice that ensure fair cooperation among - - - - - - -** - **The citizen to a free and equal, reasonable and rational. - - - - - - - -** - **Fair distribution of burden and benefit + well-ordered society.** - **Well-ordered society** It is a society where he talks about public conception of justice and four system of cooperation. - **Shared Public Conception of Society** - It means everyone in the society accepts and others accepts the very same political conception of justice. - **Effective regulation by a Public conception of Justice** - It means the basic structure of society is both political and social institutions are publicly known and reasonably to follow the principle of justice. - **Citizens have an effective sense of justice. ** - It means citizens have a strong and effective sense of justice which allows them to understand, apply and act to publicly recognize principle of justice. - **The idea of Basic Structure - Rawl's Theory of Justice** - Fairness - Cooperation - Consensus - Mutuality - Impartial - Reasonably rational - Public use of reason - Reasonable pluralism - **By taking all these concepts, Rawls created a Basic structure of society, which can be a just society** - In a huge population, this theory is not practical in nature - **The Idea of basic structure** - **Justice as fairness aims to describe a just arrangement of the major political and social institutions of a liberal society.** - **The basic structure is the location of justice because these institutions distribute the main benefits and burdens of social life.** - **The basic structure of society is the way in which the main political and social institutions of society fit together into one system of social cooperation.** - **And the way they assign basic rights and duties and regulate the division of advantages that arises from social cooperation over time.** - **Basic structure - - - - - - - - - - - - - -** - **` Original position`** - **Function of - - - - ** - **Reasonable consensus** - **Basic structure refers to the way main pol. institution of a society fit together to form a social cooperation** - It includes: - Political constitution - Judiciary - Property/laws - Economic system - Family structure - **These institutions will work according to the principle of fairness, cooperation, consensus etc.** - **To assign basic rights and duties and regulate benefits and burdens** - **Original position** - **Hypothetical** - **It considers what people would agree to certain ideal conditions, not what they actually agree to.** - **Non historical** - **It does not assume that such an agreement has ever been made in reality. Its value is based on theoretical reasoning.** - **Reflective equilibrium** - *Practical in nature* - *Reflective activity* - *Reason* - *Introspective* - *Relativist approach* - **Pluralism** - *Moral justifications* - *Practicalities* - *Liberty principle* - *Difference* - **Liberty Principle means each and every person has equal rights to basic liberties as long as these liberties are compatible with similar liberties with others.** - **It affirms equal rights to everyone irrespective of their birth in particular religion, caste etc.** - **Diff Principle (Equity)** - **In diff principle social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are to the greatest benefits to the least advantage and are attached to the position open to all under the condition of fair, equal opportunity to all.** - **Every above things are happening in original position** - **Overlapping Consensus** - **Respect for Pluralism** - **Tolerance - in Pluralistic attitude** - **Shared political principles** - Liberty - Equality - Fraternity - Secularism - **In political liberalism, overlapping consensus refers to an agreement that people with diverse and conflicting moral, religious, philosophical etc. - - - - - --** - **Used can reach on certain fundamental political principle rather than their difference like reasonable pluralism.** - **It primarily talks about sharing a common ground while accepting the diversity**.