File spoon-archives/phillitcrit.archive/phillitcrit_1997/phillitcrit.9711, message 699


Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 20:48:03 -0400
From: Stirling Newberry <allegro-AT-thecia.net>
Subject: PLC: Rawls: A Theory of Justice


Since Walter reminded us of it...

Sometime ago it seemed as if this book would be a revival of a certian view
of the liberal society. Its ideas found a capable defender in the hands of
Prof Micheal J Sandel of Harvard, it was one of the most talked about books
in philosophy.

And yet now it has receded into the distance. I am not taking sides, but
merely attempting to find out why various people feel the work has not had
any stamina - or why they feel it is merely in hibernation and will be
relevant again in the future.

My own bias is that it was more clever than insightful, that it provided
hope for people who wanted to believe that the ideas of the New Deal could
be defended by philosophical means. But that being based more on Hope than
on substance, enthusiasm for Rawls suffered from a certain looseness of
reasoning...

- - -

The idea does however have appeal in examining particular injustices, would
the ruling group have agreed to the rules which they have imposed, not
knowing which side of them they would then be on?


Stirling Newberry
business: openmarket.com
personal: allegro-AT-thecia.net
War and Romance: http://www.thecia.net/users/allegro/public_html




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