[PEN-L:32570] Re: John Rawls

[enilsson@xxxxxxxxx]

Jim D wrote,

>. . . I can't claim to be an expert on Rawls. His theory of justice does
>seem very individualistic, which goes against notions of the societal
>construction of our personal characters, etc.

Another nonexpert opinion: I think that the social construction of
persons (in particular of personal ideas of justice) is consistent with
Rawls' social contract approach. His idea is NOT necessarily that we
return to a "state of nature" with no socially constructed
characteristics when "we" design a new society.

Rather, we construct it with "our" already socially constructed notions
of justice, etc. (I'm not sure of this: I don't know exactly what Rawls
says about where he thinks our notions of justice come from (from nature
or from society)). But regardless of what he believed, it is possible to
see that those who design the ideally just world get their ideas of
justice, etc., from already existing societies.

I think.

Eric