In Defense of Outlaws: Liberalism and the Role of Reasonableness, Public Reason, and Tolerance in Multicultural Constitutionalism
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No to Rawlsian Public Reason and Yes to the Enlarged Mentality: An
No to Rawlsian Public Reason and Yes to the Enlarged Mentality: An Affirmative Role for Moral and Religious Arguments in Canadian Public Discourse in light of Charter Values by Andrew R. Morrison A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws (LL.M.) Graduate Department of the Faculty of Law University of Toronto © Copyright by Andrew R. Morrison (2011) No to Rawlsian Public Reason and Yes to the Enlarged Mentality: An Affirmative Role for Moral and Religious Arguments in Canadian Public Discourse in light of Charter Values Master of Laws, 2011 Andrew R. Morrison Faculty of Law University of Toronto Abstract This paper examines two different theories in relation to the optimal modes of public deliberation about constitutional values and the public good in the context of democratic pluralism: Rawlsian Public Reason and Nedelsky’s Enlarged Mentality. I challenge Rawlsian public reason’s claim to epistemic abstinence, autonomy and its claim to reflect a political conception of justice by examining certain contradictory aspects of its theoretical rendition. I argue that significant aspects of the picture of democracy that Rawlsian public reason reflects are unempirical. I argue that Rawlsian public reason’s concept of bracketing moral and religious argumentation from public deliberation is unjustifiable, unattainable and derogates from Canadian constitutional values. I proffer that Nedelsky’s enlarged mentality is preferable as it is more realistic and consonant with Canadian constitutional values. I argue that Nedelsky’s enlarged mentality is facilitative of genuine and meaningful dialogic exchange in spite of difference whilst managing the risk of democratic instability. -
Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples Author(S): by Kok‐Chor Tan Source: Ethics, Vol
Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples Author(s): by Kok‐Chor Tan Source: Ethics, Vol. 108, No. 2 (January 1998), pp. 276-295 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/233805 . Accessed: 10/12/2013 22:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ethics. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.64.99.141 on Tue, 10 Dec 2013 22:34:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Liberal Toleration in Rawls's Law of Peoples* Kok-Chor Tan How should a liberal state respond to nonliberal ones? Should it refrain from challenging their nonconformity with liberal principles? Or should it criticize and even challenge their nonliberal political institutions and practices? In ``The Law of Peoples,'' 1 John Rawls argues that while tyran- nical regimes, namely, states which are warlike and/or abusive of the ba- sic rights of their own citizens, do not fall within the limits of liberal tol- eration, nonliberal but peaceful and well-ordered states, what he refers to as ``well-ordered hierarchical societies'' (WHSs), meet the conditions for liberal toleration. -
Public Reason: a Stranger in Non-Liberal and Religious Societies?
This is the version of the article accepted for publication in Philosophy and Social Criticism published by SAGE http://journals.sagepub.com/home/psc Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29914 Public Reason: A Stranger in Non-Liberal and Religious Societies? Abstract The article contributes to the discussion of political reasoning in general, and public reason in particular, analysed from the vantage point of comparative political theory. It aims to bring out the complexity and diversity of actual political reasoning, and it serves as a corrective to some over-simplified discussions of public reason, by defenders and critics alike. I argue that the notion of public reason can be extended to and is operative in non-liberal and religious societies, with the acknowledgment that it needs to undergo a methodological metamorphosis in the process. This requires what I call multiple justificatory strategy, which allows the use of different justifications in order to respond to the plurality existing in society. However, there are certain qualifications in the use of multiple justifications. I argue that this leads to two important conclusions, (a) that the functioning of an inclusive notion of public reason requires the strategy of multiple justifications, and (b) it contests the inclusivists’ argument of the end or superfluity of public reason. Keywords: Non-liberal and religious societies, public reason; multiple justifications; Rawls; Muslim-majority societies. Introduction There is an extensive literature on the notion of public reason following John Rawls’s theorisation and articulation of the notion. Rawls essentially considers it a principle of liberal democratic societies. -
Public Reason1
charles larmore 10 Public Reason1 For John Rawls, public reason is not one political value among others. It envelops all the different elements that make up the ideal of a constitutional democracy, for it governs “the political relation” in which we ought to stand to one another as citizens (CP,p.574). Public reason involves more than just the idea that the principles of political association should be an object of public knowledge. Its concern is the very basis of our collectively binding decisions. We honor public reason when we bring our own reason into accord with the reason of others, espousing a common point of view for settling the terms of our political life. The conception of justice by which we live is then a conception we endorse, not for the different reasons we may each discover, and not simply for reasons we happen to share, but instead for reasons that count for us because we can affirm them together. This spirit of reciprocity is the foundation of a democratic society. Public reason has emerged as an explicit theme in Rawls’s writings only after A Theory of Justice with his turn to “political liberalism” and the pursuit of a common ground on which people can stand de- spite their deep ethical and religious differences. But the concept itself has always been at the heart of his philosophy. It runs through his first book in the guise of the idea of publicity, playing an in- dispensable part in the theory of justice as fairness. The notion of fairness itself, so central to Rawls’s thought, denotes that mutual acknowledgement of principles which public reason demands and which forms the real import of the language of social contract he has used to articulate his conception of justice. -
Is Public Reason Counterproductive? Eduardo M
Cornell Law Library Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository Cornell Law Faculty Publications 2-11-2008 Is Public Reason Counterproductive? Eduardo M. Peñalver Cornell Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/lsrp_papers Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Peñalver, Eduardo M., "Is Public Reason Counterproductive?" (2008). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. Paper 78. http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/lsrp_papers/78 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 514 WEST VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 110 West Virginia Law Review Is Public Reason Counterproductive? By Eduardo M. Peñalver February 2008 The American Constitution Society takes no position on particular legal or policy initiatives. All expressions of opinion are those of the author or authors. ACS encourages its members to express their views and make their voices heard in order to further a rigorous discussion of important issues. File: Penalver-MCJ FINAL.doc Created on: 2/11/2008 4:17:00 PM Last Printed: 2/11/2008 4:17:00 PM 2007] IS PUBLIC REASON COUNTERPRODUCTIVE? 515 IS PUBLIC REASON COUNTERPRODUCTIVE? Eduardo M. Peñalver 1 I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 515 II. A BRIEF -
The Principle of Solidarity : a Restatement of John Rawls' Law Of
DISSERTATION: THE PRINCIPLE OF SOLIDARITY: A RESTATEMENT OF JOHN RAWLS´ LAW OF PEOPLES ZUR ERLANGUNG DES AKADEMISCHEN GRADES DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIAE (DR. PHIL) VON MILICA TRIFUNOVIĆ EINGEREICHT IM DEZEMBER 2011. AN DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN FAKULTÄT I DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN PRÄSIDENT DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN: PROF. DR. JAN-HENDRIK OLBERTZ DEKAN: PROF. MICHAEL SEADLE GUTACHTER: 1. PROF. DR. VOLKER GERHARDT 2. PROF. DR. WULF KELLERWESSEL TAG DER MÜNDLICHEN PRÜFUNG: 20. JUNI 2012. 1 CONTENT CHAPTER ONE.............................................................................................................................................5 Instead of Introduction: Global Justice Debate- Conceptions and Misconceptions........................................5 1. Global Justice Debate – Conceptions and Misconceptions............................................................5 1.1. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSES....................................................................................................6 1.1.1. Aristotelian Paradigm................................................................................................7 1.1.2. Rawlsian Paradigm ...................................................................................................9 1.1.3. Aristotelian and Rawlsian Paradigm in A Global Context .......................................13 1.2. METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS ...........................................................................................21 1.2.1. Political Constructivism in a Global Context............................................................22 -
1 DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE and the LAW of PEOPLES Samuel
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE AND THE LAW OF PEOPLES Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania Part I: Background A Theory of Justice says that the distribution of income and wealth within a society is just when laws and economic institutions are designed so as to maximally benefit the least advantaged members of that same society. This standard for domestic distributive justice is to apply worldwide, to determine just distributions in every society in the world. In this regard Rawls has an account of global distributive justice. But he does not have, and he does not endorse, a global distribution principle. The difference principle applies globally, within each society, but it is not global in reach. Neither Political Liberalism nor The Law of Peoples retracts or alters this position. The primary focus of political liberalism is not ideal justice, but liberal legitimacy. It implies that laws regulating distributions in a democratic society can be legitimate, hence worthy of respect, even if they are not wholly just.1 Unlike the basic liberties and their priority, the difference principle is not required by liberal legitimacy; for legitimacy it suffices that a liberal society provide an adequate social minimum (adequate to free and equal persons’ realizing the moral powers and effectively exercising the equal basic liberties). The difference principle is one among several standards that pass the legitimacy test, all of which meet the criterion of reciprocity and the requirements of public reason. A society which protects the basic liberties and their priority, and affords equal opportunities and an adequate social minimum is 1 For Rawls’s distinction between the aims of TJ and PL, Cf. -
Consensus on What? Convergence for What? Four Models of Political
Consensus on What? Convergence for What? Four Models of Political Liberalism* Gerald Gaus and Chad Van Schoelandt 1 A PROJECT, NOT AN EDIFICE In an early symposium on A Theory of Justice, John Chapman remarked that “Rawls’s theory has both the simplicity and the complexity of a Gothic cathedral.”1 In his recent important book on Rawls’s political turn, Paul Weithman notes and endorses this characterization. Weithman seeks a unified interpretation of Theory, Rawls’s political turn and its search for stability, overcoming the many partial interpretations that take only “one view of the cathedral.”2 When readers turn to Political Liberalism, the style that comes to mind is not gothic, but baroque.3 If one takes even the 1993 hardback edition of Political Liberalism as a single, unified construction — much less the paperback edition, which includes the important “Reply to Habermas”— it has the tension, movement, complexity and irregularity of the baroque. Nevertheless, at least as far as we can see, the baroque interpretation too fails — after numerous readings, we are unable to construct a reasonably coherent and viable interpretation that accounts for all the *An earlier version of this essay was delivered to the 25th anniversary of conference of Rawls's Political Liberalism, hosted by the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics, Georgia State University, May, 2016. Our thanks for the comments and suggestions of all the participants; subsequent comments by Paul Weithman were especially vaulable, as were discussions with Brian Kogelmann. 1 John W. Chapman, “Rawls’s Theory of Justice,” American Political Science Review, vol. -
The Law of Peoples and the Cosmopolitan Critique
The Law of Peoples and the Cosmopolitan Critique Aysel Dogan Bowling Green State University In The Law of Peoples , John Rawls extends the domestic version of his political conception of justice as fairness to the relations among peoples at the international level. Rawls argues that not all peoples accept liberal values, 1 but this does not require liberal peoples to leave all nonliberal peoples 2 outside the international community—the society of peoples endorsing the law of peoples. If a society is not aggressive and is respectful to human rights, and yet nonliberal such as a “decent hierarchical society,” 3 liberal peoples can tolerate it, and delegates of liberal peoples accept to enter into an international original position with its delegates. Rawls then contend that delegates of decent hierarchical societies would agree on a set of principles of international law, such as the principle of non-intervention, respect for treatises and human rights. The distinction Rawls made between political liberalism and comprehensive doctrines in Political Liberalism is crucial for the law of peoples: “… there are many reasonable comprehensive doctrines that understand the wider realm of values to be congruent with, or supportive of, or else not in conflict with, political values as these are specified by a political conception of justice for a democratic regime.” 4 Individuals or groups of a liberal society might have different conceptions of a good life or religious, philosophical and moral doctrines but they have some political values, 5 which unite them as members of the same society. The separation of political liberalism from liberalism as a 1 Central to liberal values are “belief in the supreme value of the individual, his freedom and rights” and “advocacy of toleration in matters of morality and religion.” See Roger Scruton, A Dictionary of Political Thought (New York: Hill and Wong, 1982), p. -
In Search of an Established Church
Roger Williams University Law Review Volume 26 Issue 2 Vol. 26: No. 2 (Spring 2021) Article 3 Symposium: Is This a Christian Nation? Spring 2021 In Search of an Established Church Teresa M. Bejan University of Oxford Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR Part of the First Amendment Commons, and the Religion Law Commons Recommended Citation Bejan, Teresa M. (2021) "In Search of an Established Church," Roger Williams University Law Review: Vol. 26 : Iss. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR/vol26/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Roger Williams University Law Review by an authorized editor of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. In Search of an Established Church Teresa M. Bejan* INTRODUCTION I approach the question guiding this Symposium as a political theorist, as well as a historian of political thought. I approach it, too, as an American—albeit one who has lived and taught for many years overseas. The politics of religion in the United States fascinates me, personally and professionally. I am interested above all to understand the way in which past ways of thinking and doing have affected—and continue to affect—how we think about politics, and how we do things politically, today. For many political theorists, the question “Is America a Christian Nation?” will provoke a straightforward¾“no.” Empirically, while a strong majority (65% in 2019) of Americans still identify as Christian when asked, that number has declined sharply over the past decade.1 At the same time the rise of the “Nones,” i.e., those Americans who claim no religious affiliation, identified by Robert Putnam and David Campbell in 2010 proceeds apace.2 More important than the facts—for political theorists anyway—is the theory. -
Public Reason and Political Justifications
Fordham Law Review Volume 72 Issue 5 Article 29 2004 Public Reason and Political Justifications Samuel Freeman Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Samuel Freeman, Public Reason and Political Justifications, 72 Fordham L. Rev. 2021 (2004). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol72/iss5/29 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE IDEA OF PUBLIC REASON REVISITED PUBLIC REASON AND POLITICAL JUSTIFICATIONS Samuel Freeman* INTRODUCTION In a constitutional democracy citizens normally have a sense of the kinds of reasons that are fittingly appealed to, as well as those that are not, in legislative and judicial forums and when arguing about laws and the constitution with people who hold different religious or philosophical views. We see this all the time in arguments in news editorials, for example. But it is very hard to characterize these reasons in any straightforward way. It is not enough to say that, because people have different faiths and their differences are irresolvable, religious considerations ought to be kept out of politics. For people have irresolvably conflicting philosophical and ethical beliefs too. Moreover, sometimes it may be wholly fitting within public political life for members of a faith to declare the religious beliefs that lead them to support or oppose measures involving fundamental questions of justice (Martin Luther King's religious declarations in support of civil rights is one example). -
659 the LAW of PEOPLES by John Rawls, Harvard University Press
GARCIA_PUBLICATION 4/23/2001 6:43 PM THE LAW OF PEOPLES By John Rawls, Harvard University Press, 1999. Pp. 199. $22.50 Reviewed by Frank J. Garcia* Since the publication in 1971 of A Theory of Justice, many scholars have sought to apply John Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness to international justice problems.1 Rawls himself refrained from doing so in that work, which disappointed many commentators.2 Since then, Rawls has steadfastly continued to refuse the international extension of justice as fairness. In 1993, he published an essay in which he attempts to work out an alternative approach to international justice, the so-called “Law of Peoples.”3 This short sketch of his position, again falling well short of a full international application of justice as fairness, continued to disappoint even sympathetic commentators.4 Despite Rawls’ own reticence, interest in the international 5 application of justice as fairness continues unabated. * Associate Professor, Boston College Law School. The author would like to thank Samuel Rickless and Benjamin James Stevenson for useful conversations regarding this project, and Mr. Stevenson for excellent research support as well. Portions of this manuscript were completed while the author was a visiting professor at the University of Houston Law Center, and the author would like to thank that library staff for their invaluable assistance. 1 Notable treatments since publication of A THEORY OF JUSTICE include: BRIAN BARRY, THE LIBERAL THEORY OF JUSTICE (1973); CHARLES R. BEITZ, POLITICAL THEORY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (1979); David A. J. Richards, International Distributive Justice, in NOMOS XXIV: ETHICS, ECONOMICS AND THE LAW 275 (J.