Other

Liberalism, Justice and Cultural Pluralism

Mojmir Križan ; University of Göttingen, Germany

Abstract

Classical liberalism as opposed to traditional concepts has established a notion
of justice which envisages the equality of individual (negative) freedoms and (tutelary)rights. Under the influence of socialist criticism modem-day liberals have been trying to include within the concepts of justice the problems of the distribution of positive freedoms and rights. The already classic attempt of solving this probkm is the theory of justice by John Rawls. Rawls defines justice as fairness, whose basic principles are: the equiality of basic freedoms of individuals compatible with the freedom of other individuals; the distribution of goods which will most benefit the least privileged; the primacy of freedom over social equality and justice over economic efficiency. In a pluralist society these principles should facilitate the establishhment of the „overlapping consensus“ among divergent social groups on the issues of basic social structure. In his attempt to solve the problems of social equality which Rawls' theory leaves open-ended, Michael Walzer postulates the principle of complex equality which requires different ways of distribution for different types of goods. These types cannot be specified in advance ; however their distribution is the most remarkable skill of liberal politics. Finally, the author claims that the problem of a just political organization of multicultural socities can be solved by applying Rawls' principle of fairness on the negotiating processes and on achieving consensus among divergent cultural groups on certain issues.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

110389

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/110389

Publication date:

1.12.1995.

Visits: 826 *