Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy

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 o...

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Main Author: Bejan, TM
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2021
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author Bejan, TM
author_facet Bejan, TM
author_sort Bejan, TM
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description 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.
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spelling oxford-uuid:b9b42706-4e87-4063-a196-bf5776c01b3b2022-03-27T05:04:46ZRawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b9b42706-4e87-4063-a196-bf5776c01b3bEnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2021Bejan, TMThis 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.
spellingShingle Bejan, TM
Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy
title Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy
title_full Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy
title_fullStr Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy
title_full_unstemmed Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy
title_short Rawls's teaching and the "tradition" of political philosophy
title_sort rawls s teaching and the tradition of political philosophy
work_keys_str_mv AT bejantm rawlssteachingandthetraditionofpoliticalphilosophy