Continuity in Rawls’s Conception of Justice : From Kantian Construction to Political Construction (2021.06)
- Author : Lin Ji-Hoon
- Publication : The Journal of Humanities
- Publisher : THE INSTITUTE OF THE HUMANITIES YEUNGNAM UNIVERSITY
- Volume : 95
- Date : June, 2021
Abstract: The purpose in this essay is to clarify that Rawls’s political philosophy has consistently developed with the constructive method as a key link. Until now, many critics have focused on various ideas, or contents, found in Rawls’s theory of justice, while their interest in methodological characteristics is relatively low. This led to a misunderstanding that tension and contradiction exist between A Theory of Justice and Rawls’s later writings. However, when we attention to the purpose of political justification, Rawls’ views of justice are able to be integrated into a coherent system, even though his emphasis has gradually shifted from Kantian constructivism to political one. Rawls’s political constructivism has a great theoretical and practical meaning in that it presents us with a powerful way to justify political power in a modern pluralistic society.