Izlaganje sa skupa
DOES RAWLS CONCEPT OF THE OVERLAPPING CONSENSUS PRESUPPOSE INDIVIDUAL SCHIZOPHRENIA?
Zoran Kurelić
orcid.org/0009-0001-0531-5541
; Fakultet političkih znanosti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
A number of interpreters and critics have often complained that Rawls’ concept of the individual contains an element of schizophrenia. How is it possible that privately a person is a staunch believer in a moral doctrine, while publicly they adopt the principles of political liberalism? The author tries to show how Rawls’ concept of the overlapping consensus might avoid this objection. The paper brings two major critiques of Rawls’ overlapping consensus: Gray’s and Barry’s. John Gray claims that the very pursuit of such a consensus is illusory; instead, he advocates a modus vivendi. According to him, the consensus promoted by Rawls is unfeasible even in the United States of America due to the emergence of the socalled “moral majority”, and the fact that a huge portion of the population practices rather bigoted variants of Christianity. Brian Barry critcicizes Rawls because of his renounciation of his original position, which is apparent in his problematic search for the support from comprehensive doctrines. This manouver is ill-advised, as it is hard to believe that those citizens who are ardent partisans of a comprehensive doctrine might simply “graft” political liberalism upon it and then, in case of a conflict between their concepts of the good and the justice that political liberalism requires, accept the primacy of justice. The author claims that these criticisms could not be refuted had Rawls believed that the overlapping consensus might be realized in the near future. Rawls, however, is not unrealistic; he only provides arguments why such a consensus might be possible. Rawls finds the grounds for his optimism in the belief that just institutions drastically advance the sense of justice. This means that those who would in the future embrace the overlapping consensus would not have to be schizophrenic after all.
Ključne riječi
overlapping consensus; political liberalism; modus vivendi; Rawls
Hrčak ID:
23292
URI
Datum izdavanja:
26.8.2003.
Posjeta: 2.361 *