John Rawls: Reticent Socialist

223 Pages·2017·1.023 MB·English

by  William A. Edmundson

john rawls: reticent socialist
This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the late work of John Rawls, who
wasperhaps 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,”hisconceptionofjusticeforanideal,self-contained,modernpoliticalsociety.
MostofthatcommentarytookRawlstobedefendingwelfare-statecapitalismasfoundin
WesternEuropeandtheUnitedStates.FarlessattentionhasbeengiventoRawls’s2001
book,JusticeasFairness:ARestatement.IntheRestatement,Rawlsnotonlysubstantially
reformulatesthe“originalposition”argumentforthetwoprinciplesofjustice-as-fairness,
he also repudiates capitalist regimes as possible embodiments. Edmundson further
developsRawls’snon-idealtheory,whichguidesuswhenwefindourselvesinasociety
thatfallswellshortofjustice.
william a. edmundson isRegentsProfessorofLawandPhilosophyatGeorgiaState
UniversityCollegeofLaw.HeistheauthorofThreeAnarchicalFallacies(1998)andAn
Introduction to Rights (2012) and editor of The Duty to Obey the Law (1999) and The
BlackwellGuidetothePhilosophyofLawandLegalTheory(2004).Heisalsotheseries
editoroftheCambridgeIntroductionstoPhilosophyandLaw.

John Rawls: Reticent Socialist
WILLIAM A. EDMUNDSON
GeorgiaState University
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names:Edmundson,WilliamA.(WilliamAtkins),1948–author.
title:JohnRawls:reticentsocialist/WilliamA.Edmundson.
description:1Edition.|NewYork :CambridgeUniversityPress,2017.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2017014849|isbn9781107173194(Hardback)
subjects:lcsh:Rawls,John,1921-2002–Politicalandsocialviews.|Justice.|Liberalism.|
Politicalstability.|bisac:LAW/Jurisprudence.
classification:lccjc578.e3462017|ddc320.01/1–dc23LCrecord
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‘
The long dominance of the idea that philosophy is one thing and
’
history of philosophy is another is now visibly coming to an end.
Or is this too optimistic an estimate?
—HilaryPutnam(1997,201)

Contents
Acknowledgments page ix
Introduction 1
1 Conceptions of Property in the OriginalPosition 17
2 Property-Owning Democracy versus Liberal Socialism 28
3 Fair Value and the Factof Domination 52
4 TheFour-Stage Sequence 65
5 TheCircumstances of Politics 81
6 Rescuing the Difference Principle 90
7 TheSpecialPsychologies 105
8 Socialismand Stability 118
9 TheCommonContent of the Two Regimes 128
10 TheProperty Question 139
11 Religion and Reticence 170
12 Non-Ideal Theory: The Transition toSocialism 186
Bibliography 201
Index 207
vii

Acknowledgments
Forfavorsgreatandsmall,IthankAndyAltman,DavidBrudney,AndrewI.Cohen,
Andrew J. Cohen, Josh Cohen, Richard Dagger, Norman Daniels, Sam Freeman,
AlanGilbert,ChristieHartley,BenJackson,MattJeffers,ErinKelly,SharonLloyd,
Michael McPherson, Frank Michelman, Susan Neiman, George Rainbolt, David
Reidy, Ben Rogers, Cheyney Ryan, Amelie Rorty, Eric Schliesser, Alan Thomas,
KevinVallier,BasvanderVossen,MichaelWalzer,andLeifWenar.PamBrannon
hashelpedme assemble the secondary materials I had toconsult.
For taking on the unhappy task of plowing through the nearly finished manu-
script,mydeepestgratitudeisowedtoJeremy Farris,PeterLindsay, FrankMichel-
man, Kevin Vallier, and an anonymous reviewer for Cambridge University Press.
I have tried my best to take their counsel, but of course their patience does not
necessarilyconveyanendorsement.IdoowespecialthankstoJeremyFarrisforthe
initialsuggestionthatIwritethisbook,andtoJohnBerger,myeditor,formovingit
forward.
ix