Abstract

The main question I endeavor to answer is, how can a political conception of justice be developed and articulated? Justice is concerned with the fair terms of social cooperation, and the political conception refers to the principles involved in dealing with conflicts in civil society. Justice is composed of substantive principles, those which regulate interactions between and among individuals and groups . Justice is also conceived as procedural, as being the process itself of normative deliberations and rational conflict-resolution. Procedural justice provides the ground for substantive principles. Through the principles applying to and conditioning normative discussions, substantive principles themselves are assured to be just. ;In this essay I use John Rawls' ideas as a starting-point and have generally affirmed that principles of justice ultimately must have a pragmatic appeal, they must engender debate on what principles will govern the 'basic structure'. There must likewise be an overlapping consensus for a political conception of justice. I also basically affirm Rawls' concern with the value of basic liberties. ;I also affirm some communitarian ideas, those which emphasize the community as the source of and proper venue for values related to justice. Community becomes both a means and an end for collective goals. Nonetheless there should be a possibility for individual agency and assumption of responsibility for action, despite individual affinity with, or a sense of belongingness to, communities. ;Normative discussions, specially those arising as a result of conflicts, can be instances when individuals and groups can agree on what norms or standards will regulate their behavior. Resolving conflicts through discussion and deliberation, without the desire nor need to dominate and violently coerce others, is the process through which individuals and groups are able to deal dynamically and productively with each other, and arrive at just institutions and arrangements.