John Rawls: Reticent Socialist

The first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, further developing his ideas of 'justice-as-fairness'.

William A. Edmundson (Author)

9781316625774, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 May 2018

222 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.34 kg

'It is one of the greatest merits of William Edmundson's analysis in John Rawls: Reticent Socialist to unambiguously bring out Rawls's profound hostility to a capitalist society characterized by both economic exploitation and political domination, where those with more money and resources can undermine the fair value of political liberties by exerting disproportionate influence on political processes that further entrench their accumulated advantage.' Lea Ypi, Catalyst

This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, who was perhaps the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Rawls's 1971 treatise, A Theory of Justice, stimulated an outpouring of commentary on 'justice-as-fairness,' his conception of justice for an ideal, self-contained, modern political society. Most of that commentary took Rawls to be defending welfare-state capitalism as found in Western Europe and the United States. Far less attention has been given to Rawls's 2001 book, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. In the Restatement, Rawls not only substantially reformulates the 'original position' argument for the two principles of justice-as-fairness but also repudiates capitalist regimes as possible embodiments. Edmundson further develops Rawls's non-ideal theory, which guides us when we find ourselves in a society that falls well short of justice.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Conceptions of property in the original position
2. Property-owning democracy versus liberal socialism
3. Fair value and the fact of domination
4. The four-stage sequence
5. The circumstances of politics
6. Rescuing the difference principle
7. The special psychologies
8. Socialism and stability
9. The common content
10. The property question
11. Religion and reticence
12. Non-ideal theory: the transition to socialism
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Property law [LNS], Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies [JPFF], Social & political philosophy [HPS]