15042

SoSe 20: The political liberalism of John Rawls: between democratic socialism and property-owning democracy

Pedro Teixeira

Information for students

Die Veranstaltung findet asynchron als Online-Seminar statt.

Comments

In this seminar we will analyse and discuss the work of John Rawls. Following the 1971 publication of his A Theory of Justice, Rawls’ idea of a society organised according to principles of justice became one of the dominant paradigms in political philosophy. Despite the numerous debates which took place in the past few decades, Rawls’ work still plays a major role in shaping up our ideas and perceptions about social and economic justice in contemporary societies. In this course we shall examine the key aspects of Rawls’ theory and the way they evolved over time. We shall attempt to reconstruct his main ideas and contributions in a chronological manner, while considering some important lines of criticism against his vision of a just society. These will include Rawls’ methodological choices (e.g. Kantian constructivism, ideal vs. non-ideal theory), his notion of ‘justice as fairness’, his understanding of the meaning of ‘political liberalism’ as well as Rawls’ (Hegelian) appeal to a reconciliation with the existing values of a liberal society. We will then look at new interpretations of Rawls which place him much closer to social democratic or even democratic socialist views, namely through his imagination of a ‘property-owning democracy’." close

12 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Thu, 14:00 - 16:00 12 Class schedule

Thu, 2020-04-23 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Pedro Teixeira