Rawls and political realism: Realistic utopianism or judgement in bad faith?

European Journal of Political Theory 16 (3):304-324 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Political realism criticises the putative abstraction, foundationalism and neglect of the agonistic dimension of political practice in the work of John Rawls. This paper argues that had Rawls not fully specified the implementation of his theory of justice in one particular form of political economy then he would be vulnerable to a realist critique. But he did present such an implementation: a property-owning democracy. An appreciation of Rawls s specificationist method undercuts the realist critique of his conception of justice as fairness.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

What Is Realistic Political Philosophy?David Runciman - 2012 - Metaphilosophy 43 (1-2):58-70.
Rawls and War.Daniel A. Dombrowski - 2002 - International Journal of Applied Philosophy 16 (2):185-200.
Overlapping Consensus.Remi Odedoyin - 2000 - Journal of Philosophical Research 25:323-343.
Rawls and Realism.James Gledhill - 2012 - Social Theory and Practice 38 (1):55-82.
Playing Kant at the Court of King Arthur.Robert Jubb - 2015 - Political Studies 63 (4):919-934.
Rawls in Britain.John Horton - 2002 - European Journal of Political Theory 1 (2):147-161.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-04-16

Downloads
86 (#180,515)

6 months
7 (#176,166)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Alan Thomas
University of York

Citations of this work

Being realistic and demanding the impossible.Enzo Rossi - 2019 - Constellations 26 (4):638-652.
Global Political Legitimacy and the Structural Power of Capital.Ugur Aytac - 2023 - Journal of Social Philosophy 54 (4):490-509.
The radical realist critique of Rawls: a reconstruction and response.Paul Raekstad - 2024 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 27 (2):183-205.
Facts, Principles, and (Real) Politics.Enzo Rossi - 2016 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 19 (2):505-520.
Radicalizing realist legitimacy.Ben Cross - 2019 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 46 (4):369-389.

View all 24 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

What we owe to each other.Thomas Scanlon - 1998 - Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Rescuing Justice and Equality.G. A. Cohen (ed.) - 2008 - Harvard University Press.
Political Liberalism.J. Rawls - 1995 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 57 (3):596-598.

View all 43 references / Add more references