Political Liberalism, Western History, and the Conjectural Non-West

2020 ◽  
pp. 009059172092780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loubna El Amine
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Western World ◽  
Classical Liberalism ◽  
Adequate Account ◽  
Western History ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Institutional Features ◽  
The Relationship

Taking its distance from classical liberalism, political liberalism seeks to avoid controversial metaphysical assumptions by starting from institutional features of modern polities. Political liberalism also extends the limits of liberal toleration by envisioning societies that it considers nonliberal but decent. This article is concerned with the relationship between these two dimensions of political liberalism, specifically as they are instantiated in the work of John Rawls. I show that these two dimensions are in tension with each other. Put simply, if political liberalism is institutional, then decent societies are impossible. Decent societies are only conceivable within the ahistorical realm of values—a realm that Rawls sometimes slips into, even though its avoidance is central to political liberalism’s claim of distinctiveness. Rawls’s appeal to hypotheticals to defend his account of decent societies only serves to mask this tension and to foreclose important avenues of inquiry about the non-Western world. I also deploy throughout the article archival material that evinces Rawls’ concern with ethnocentrism but also the difficulties he faced in coming up with an adequate account of non-Western societies. On the argument I offer here, this intractability is to be expected, since Rawls did not recognize that the problems with his account were not purely philosophical, but in fact, sociological, political, and historical.

scholarly journals Religion, Religions and J.Rawls’ Political Project

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 267-285
Author(s):  
Valentina Gentile
Keyword(s):  
Public Reason ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Political Project ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Decent Peoples

The essay explores the relationship between religion and Rawls from the perspective of some issues that are central to his political project: political autonomy, public reason and the implications of the fact of pluralism for the development of the idea of decent peoples. Religion has a dual dimension in political liberalism, plural and singular. The problem of the liberal political transition is to allow these two dimensions to coexist harmoniously within the liberal political project.

Catholicism, Rawlsian Political Liberalism, and Reciprocity: Insights from the Travails of Bishop Henry of Calgary

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-475
Author(s):  
John Soroski
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Catholic School ◽  
Fund Raising ◽  
Overlapping Consensus ◽  
Public Speech ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractJohn Rawls contended that an overlapping consensus for “political liberalism” could be found in different ways across the range of comprehensive systems of value in western societies. Three recent conflicts concerning the relationship of church and state in Canada involving the Catholic Bishop of Calgary, Frederick Henry, provide an opportunity to consider Rawls' ideas in a specific societal context. The first of these conflicts — Henry's call for the excommunication of Catholic Prime Minister Paul Martin for legalizing same-sex marriage — suggests that the resources for a Rawlsian overlapping consensus may be difficult to find in Catholicism. The refusal of the Calgary Catholic School Board to obey Henry's order to end the use of gambling related school fund-raising, the second of the Bishop's “travails,” undercuts that conclusion, but the moral emptiness of the vocabulary of cultural liberalism, which the Board deployed in its self-justifications, suggests that too much liberalism might be almost as regrettable as too little. Henry's third travail — a call before the Human Rights Commission to answer charges of “discriminatory public speech” for his public criticisms of homosexuality — suggests the merit of recognizing an alternative to overlapping consensus as the source of Catholic recognition of Rawlsian political liberalism: reciprocity.

scholarly journals Justiça, Equidade e Liberalismo em Rawls

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Mateus Salvadori
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Political Justice ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Reasonable Pluralism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Interests ◽  
Comprehensive Doctrines ◽  
The Relationship

A teoria da justiça proposta por John Rawls investiga a estrutura básica da sociedade, tendo como base a justiça política, a justiça pública e a justiça distributiva. Rawls propõe uma teoria que representa uma alternativa ao utilitarismo, pois para o autor os direitos não deverão estar sujeitos à negociações políticas ou sujeitos ao cálculo de interesses sociais. É através do contrato social que Rawls busca apresentar a relação entre justiça, equidade e liberalismo político.Abstract: The theory of justice proposed by John Rawls investigates the basic structure of society, based on political justice, public justice and distributive justice. Rawls proposed a theory that is an alternative to utilitarianism, in which rights should not be subject to political negotiations or subject to calculation of social interests. It is through the social contract that Rawls seeks to present the relationship between justice, equity and political liberalism. Keywords: Rawls, liberty, equality, reasonable pluralism, comprehensive doctrines.

scholarly journals Rawls's Teaching and the “Tradition” of Political Philosophy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Teresa M. Bejan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

This article explores Rawls's evolving orientation to “the tradition of political philosophy” over the course of his academic career, culminating in Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001). Drawing on archival material, it argues that Rawls's fascination with tradition arose out of his own pedagogical engagement with the debate around the “death of political philosophy” in the 1950s. Throughout, I highlight the significance of Rawls's teaching—beginning with his earliest lectures on social and political philosophy at Cornell, to his shifting views on “the tradition” in his published works, culminating in the increasingly contextually minded and irenic approach on display in Political Liberalism (1993) and Justice as Fairness. This neglected aspect of the “historical Rawls” offers insight into how Rawls himself might have read “John Rawls” as a figure in the history of political thought—and reveals that he spent a lot more time contemplating that question than one might think.

The State’s Role in Ensuring Fair Income Distribution in Vietnam Today: Some Issues from the Theory of Justice as Fairness by John Rawls

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-195
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Economic Philosophy ◽  
The Relationship

Fairness in income distribution is a factor that both motivates employees and contributes to maintaining social stability. In Vietnam, fair income distribution has been studied from various perspectives. In this article, through the analysis and synthesis of related documents and evidence, and from the perspective of economic philosophy, the author applies John Rawls’s Theory of Justice as Fairness to analyze some issues arising from the implementation of the state’s role in ensuring fair income distribution from 1986 to present. These are unifying the perception of fairness in income distribution; solving the relationship between economic efficiency and social equality; ensuring benefits for the least-privileged people in society; and controlling income. On that basis, the author makes some recommendations to enhance the state’s role in ensuring fair income distribution in Vietnam. Received 11thNovember 2019; Revised 10thApril 2020; Accepted 20th April 2020

Gender Ideology and Fertility: Evidence for a Curvilinear Hypothesis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Stefani ◽  
Gabriele Prati
Keyword(s):  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
World Population ◽  
Fertility Rates ◽  
The World ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
The Relationship

Research on the relationship between fertility and gender ideology revealed inconsistent results. In the present study, we argue that inconsistencies may be due to the fact that such relationship may be nonlinear. We hypothesize a U- shaped relationship between two dimensions of gender ideology (i.e. primacy of breadwinner role and acceptance of male privilege) and fertility rates. We conducted a cross-national analysis of 60 countries using data from the World Values Survey as well as the World Population Prospects 2019. Controlling for gross domestic product, we found support for a U-shaped relationship between gender ideology and fertility. Higher levels of fertility rates were found at lower and especially higher levels of traditional gender ideology, while a medium level of gender ideology was associated with the lowest fertility rate. This curvilinear relationship is in agreement with the phase of the gender revolution in which the country is located. Traditional beliefs are linked to a complementary division of private versus public sphere between sexes, while egalitarian attitudes are associated with a more equitable division. Both conditions strengthen fertility. Instead, as in the transition phase, intermediate levels of gender ideology’s support are associated with an overload and a difficult reconciliation of the roles that women have to embody (i.e. working and nurturing) so reducing fertility. The present study has contributed to the literature by addressing the inconsistencies of prior research by demonstrating that the relationship between gender ideology and fertility rates is curvilinear rather than linear.

Innovative Thinking on the Relationship between the Provision of Local Services and Inequality in Israel

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-51
Author(s):  
Yoram Ida ◽  
Amir Hefetz ◽  
Assaf Meydani ◽  
Gila Menahem ◽  
Elad Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Implementation Process ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
National Standard ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Innovative Methodology ◽  
Local Services ◽  
Innovative Thinking ◽  
Mandatory Service ◽  
The Relationship

What innovative policy tools can be introduced so that the provision of local services will mitigate inequality among residents of different localities? Based on the ‘new localism’ approach, this article examines one such tool—a mandatory national standard for services provided by local authorities (a ‘service basket’)—and suggests that the implementation process should consider local variation and autonomy. The novelty of our approach lies in including both objective and normative considerations in the methodological instrument that we developed to capture these two dimensions. This innovative methodology also enabled us to estimate existing service gaps among local authorities and the burdens some will face upon instituting a mandatory service basket.

Psychology: Volume 5

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Science Volume ◽  
Western World ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Difference ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Indian Setting ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

This survey of research on psychology in five volumes is a part of a series undertaken by the ICSSR since 1969, which covers various disciplines under social science. Volume Five of this survey, Explorations into Psyche and Psychology: Some Emerging Perspectives, examines the future of psychology in India. For a very long time, intellectual investments in understanding mental life have led to varied formulations about mind and its functions across the word. However, a critical reflection of the state of the disciplinary affairs indicates the dominance of Euro-American theories and methods, which offer an understanding coloured by a Western world view, which fails to do justice with many non-Western cultural settings. The chapters in this volume expand the scope of psychology to encompass indigenous knowledge available in the Indian tradition and invite engaging with emancipatory concerns as well as broadening the disciplinary base. The contributors situate the difference between the Eastern and Western conceptions of the mind in the practice of psychology. They look at this discipline as shaped by and shaping between systems like yoga. They also analyse animal behaviour through the lens of psychology and bring out insights about evolution of individual and social behaviour. This volume offers critique the contemporary psychological practices in India and offers a new perspective called ‘public psychology’ to construe and analyse the relationship between psychologists and their objects of study. Finally, some paradigmatic, pedagogical, and substantive issues are highlighted to restructure the practice of psychology in the Indian setting.

Refutation of neoliberal educational policies based on Millian principles

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110313
Author(s):  
Jaakko Honkanen ◽  
Rauno Huttunen
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Classical Liberalism ◽  
Classical Liberal ◽  
Future Analysis ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article attempts to start an in-depth consideration and analysis of modern neoliberal education policy through its philosophical roots. To achieve this, the article considers the ideology and philosophy of the classical liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill and the relationship of his philosophy with the modern-day neoliberalist education policy. The purpose of the article is to discuss the philosophical groundwork that drives Mill’s ideas on the establishment of education and compares it to the philosophical groundwork and implications present in modern neoliberal education policy, and through this begin to assert what neoliberalist education policy is. The paper asserts that while Mill’s version of classical liberalism holds similar views and forms of occurrence with modern neoliberalist policies, in many cases Mill’s philosophical groundwork seems to disagree fundamentally with that of neoliberalism. The study is based on literature detailing both the philosophical as well as polity aspects of both Mill’s ideas and modern neoliberalism from the viewpoint of education, and it presents considerations for the nature of neoliberal education policy and its future analysis.

Habermas on Rawls and the normative foundations of democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843102098541
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Kędziora
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Veil Of Ignorance ◽  
Normative Foundation ◽  
Internal Relations ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Politics And Law ◽  
Normative Foundations

The debate between Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls concerns the question of how to do political philosophy under conditions of cultural pluralism, if the aim of political philosophy is to uncover the normative foundation of a modern liberal democracy. Rawls’s political liberalism tries to bypass the problem of pluralism, using the intellectual device of the veil of ignorance, and yet paradoxically at the same time it treats it as something given and as an arbiter of justification within the political conception of justice. Habermas argues that Rawls not only incorrectly operationalizes the moral point of view from which we discern what is just but also fails to capture the specificity of democracy which is given by internal relations between politics and law. This deprives Rawls’s political philosophy of the conceptual tools needed to articulate the normative foundation of democracy.

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