The matter of stability in the Rawl s theory of justice / A questão da estabilidade na teoria da justiça de John Rawls

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

In the 20th century, in the search of rational arguments capable of giving legitimate fundaments to the main democratic institutions, philosophers and political theoreticians were dedicated to the elaboration of liberal conceptions of justice. In this meaning, one of the most significant efforts was made by John Rawls (1921-2002), mainly in his work A Theory of Justice (1971). Rawls theory has reflected the necessity of liberal theories in response to the actual problems of capitalist societies, regarding matters of political obligations that refer to the legitimacy of democratic institutions and also matters of stability. In this thesis, there is no intention of a pure comparative analysis of Rawls´work, but to deal with two problems that Rawls has faced in A Theory of Justice and have overlapped his entire philosophical project, that means, how would it be possible to reach a consensus concerning a conception of justice to a constitutional democratic society? Could the terms that made this conception of justice count on the support of the citizens? To answer these questions Rawls has elaborated the conception of justice as fairness, a set of principles of justice, chosen by rational and reasonable people in an equitable situation. To Rawls, the conception of justice as fairness is stable, because applying it in the main social institutions would generate in the citizens an effective sense of justice. In A Theory of Justice, social stability is guaranteed by the presence of this effective sense of justice, and in a democratic society, the principles of justice would guarantee basic rights to the use of a democratic citizenship, and would also assure an individual self-respect. In this context, acting according the justice is a common well to people in general. In Political Liberalism (1993), Rawls revises his conception of justice, and to give more realism to the ideal of a well-ordered society, he considers that this society be characterized by a plurality of wide moral and philosophical doctrines that are incompatible, but justice as fairness, because it is presented as a political conception of justice capable of reaching a overlapping consensus between different religious and philosophical doctrines, would be capable of answering the matter of stability

ASSUNTO(S)

justice stability etica estabilidade justiça ethics

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