John Rawls. Parts
III and IV of Justice as Fairness: A
Restatement (Harvard University Press, 2001). Groups 1-3
Martin O’Neill.
“Free (and Fair) Markets Without Capitalism: Political Values, Principles of
Justice, and Property-Owning Democracy,” Chapter 4 of Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond, edited by Martin
O’Neill and Thad Williamson (Wiley-Blackwell 2014). Optional
I have more of a question than a comment about today. So here is the set up. An individual is in the original position with full knowledge of history and thus knowing that the world has been ruled for some time by a white male hegemony but not knowing his or her own status in that world. From that position he or she together with the rest of society find themselves (according to Rawls) inevitably drawn towards agreeing upon the two principles of justice. The individual then finds herself living in the world. My question is:
ReplyDeleteis the world still dominated by white males or have we in coming to the original position changed the world so that it is now filled by some other type of social order?
That's an interesting question. I had always thought that the Original Position was ahistorical. The idea being that, if, at the dawn of time, people had no negotiate a society, this is what they would come up with and this is how they would negotiate. So, I guess there wouldn't be the opportunity for hegemony to arise . . . maybe.
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