PHIL 410A: DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS FOR WEEK 5.
RAWLS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (Week #5
1. Rawls's Social
Contract Theory. In his 1971 book, A
Theory of Justice, John Rawls developed a social contract theory of
justice. The two basic principles of
Rawls's theory are stated on pages 5-6 of our reading from his recent 1993
book, Political Liberalism. In
the earlier book, Rawls focused primarily on the second principle (the
Difference Principle). In our readings,
Rawls provides a much more detailed discussion of the justification of the
first principle (the Liberty Principle).
A "social contract theory" is one which explains moral or
political principles in terms of what some group of people did agree to or
would agree to under some specified actual or hypothetical circumstances. For Rawls, the relevant agreement is
hypothetical, not actual, one that would be reached by free and equal persons
in an Original Position, behind a Veil of Ignorance. Rawls argues that free and equal persons would agree to guarantee
themselves an equal right to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties
which is compatible with a similar scheme of liberties for all. If successful, I will say that Rawls's
argument would provide a social contract justification of the
Liberty Principle.
Reading Rawls is almost like learning another
language. There are many terms that are
inter-defined, so that there is no translation manual. You simply have to learn the language by
listening to him speak it. To become fluent
in the language, your goal should be to be able to explain the following terms
(Don't be discouraged if you are unable to do so after a single reading!): reflective equilibrium, fair terms of
cooperation; free and equal persons; overlapping consensus; comprehensive
doctrine; political (not metaphysical); cooperation; reciprocity; two moral
powers (capacity for a sense of justice and for a conception of the good);
determinate conception of the good; Original Position; "basic
structure" of society; Veil of Ignorance; hypothetical and nonhistorical
agreement; well-ordered society; the Reasonable; the Rational; rational
autonomy vs. full autonomy; basic liberty; fully adequate scheme of equal basic
liberty; Liberty Principle; Difference Principle; the priority of liberty;
restriction vs. regulation of liberty. primary goods;
and the worth of liberties.
Also, keep in mind Rawls's warning (p. 28) to distinguish
the following three points of view: (1)
parties in the original position; (2) citizens of a well-ordered
society; (3) ourselves in the
2. What are the
two moral powers? How does the Original
Position model them both? What does
Rawls mean by “a fully adequate
scheme of equal basic liberties”? [Hint: fully adequate for what?]
3. Why assume a
society of free and equal moral agents?
Could a party in the Original Position prefer what I will refer to as a
"Beehive Society"--that is, an orderly society of unfree and unequal
citizens in which everyone simply performs their social role and does not have
to endure either the anxiety of being a free agent or the disorder of a liberal
society that tolerates dissent? Could a
party in the Original Position prefer Plato's Republic to a society of
free and equal moral agents? Could one
argue for a Beehive Society or for Plato's Republic in the Original
Position as Rawls describes it?
4. What are Rawls’s two principles of justice?