Preliminary communication
A Well-Ordered Society as a Democratic Community: Alternative Readings of Rawls’ Political Theory
Ana Matan
orcid.org/0000-0001-9037-3908
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The standard reading of Rawls’ political theory puts great emphasis on Rawls’
liberalism and the primacy of basic liberties. The standard reading usually ignores
Rawls’ remark that he is trying to develop most appropriate moral basis for a
democratic society. An alternative reading, offered in the article, tries to bring out
the democratic elements in Rawls’ thought and present Rawls’ concern for social
justice as an attempt to offer a plausible account of a democratic community and
the preconditions for democratic legitimacy. Still, the alternative reading has to be
carefully distinguished from the interpretation of Rawls offered by Richard Rorty
who claims that Rawls is only articulating the liberal and democratic features of
present day societies without ambitions to justify their practices and political
culture. For the alternative democratic readings of Rawls it is crucial to
understand the “problem of stability” and Rawls’ solution to it.
Keywords
John Rawls; Richard Rorty; justification; democracy; stability
Hrčak ID:
21149
URI
Publication date:
25.8.2005.
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