The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism
This paper proposes an interpretation of the conception of morality that remains relatively vague in John Rawls' political liberalism. It begins with Rawls' remark that the political conception of justice is also a moral conception, which is puzzling when taking into consideration Rawls�...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2016-03-01
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| Series: | Ethics & Global Politics |
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| Online Access: | http://www.ethicsandglobalpolitics.net/index.php/egp/article/view/28679/45379 |
| _version_ | 1819082518443327488 |
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| author | Zhuoyao Li |
| author_facet | Zhuoyao Li |
| author_sort | Zhuoyao Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper proposes an interpretation of the conception of morality that remains relatively vague in John Rawls' political liberalism. It begins with Rawls' remark that the political conception of justice is also a moral conception, which is puzzling when taking into consideration Rawls' explicit avoidance of comprehensive moral doctrines in constructing the political conception of justice. In response, this paper proposes the public conception of morality that is structurally justificatory rather than substantively foundationalist. This conception is then further developed by addressing two critical questions concerning the necessity of avoiding comprehensive moral foundations and the source of objective prescriptivity in a justificatory view of morality. The former is situated in an analysis and reinterpretation of Alasdair MacIntyre's reading of Søren Kierkegaard's Either/Or, and the latter is demonstrated through a comparative study of two leading justificatory theories of morality by Rainer Forst and Thomas Scanlon. Finally, the public conception of morality is fully developed to show that it both defines and defends the political conception of justice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T20:17:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e4efc2bbac30477caa53b03611afdd01 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1654-6369 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T20:17:57Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ethics & Global Politics |
| spelling | doaj.art-e4efc2bbac30477caa53b03611afdd012022-12-21T18:51:33ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEthics & Global Politics1654-63692016-03-019012310.3402/egp.v9.2867928679The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalismZhuoyao Li0Department of Philosophy, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USAThis paper proposes an interpretation of the conception of morality that remains relatively vague in John Rawls' political liberalism. It begins with Rawls' remark that the political conception of justice is also a moral conception, which is puzzling when taking into consideration Rawls' explicit avoidance of comprehensive moral doctrines in constructing the political conception of justice. In response, this paper proposes the public conception of morality that is structurally justificatory rather than substantively foundationalist. This conception is then further developed by addressing two critical questions concerning the necessity of avoiding comprehensive moral foundations and the source of objective prescriptivity in a justificatory view of morality. The former is situated in an analysis and reinterpretation of Alasdair MacIntyre's reading of Søren Kierkegaard's Either/Or, and the latter is demonstrated through a comparative study of two leading justificatory theories of morality by Rainer Forst and Thomas Scanlon. Finally, the public conception of morality is fully developed to show that it both defines and defends the political conception of justice.http://www.ethicsandglobalpolitics.net/index.php/egp/article/view/28679/45379moralityJohn Rawlspolitical liberalismpluralismjustificationRainer ForstThomas Scanlon |
| spellingShingle | Zhuoyao Li The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism Ethics & Global Politics morality John Rawls political liberalism pluralism justification Rainer Forst Thomas Scanlon |
| title | The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism |
| title_full | The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism |
| title_fullStr | The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism |
| title_full_unstemmed | The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism |
| title_short | The public conception of morality in John Rawls' political liberalism |
| title_sort | public conception of morality in john rawls political liberalism |
| topic | morality John Rawls political liberalism pluralism justification Rainer Forst Thomas Scanlon |
| url | http://www.ethicsandglobalpolitics.net/index.php/egp/article/view/28679/45379 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zhuoyaoli thepublicconceptionofmoralityinjohnrawlspoliticalliberalism AT zhuoyaoli publicconceptionofmoralityinjohnrawlspoliticalliberalism |