JOHN RAWLS - A Theory of Justice to Political Liberalism!

JOHN RAWLS - A Theory of Jusice to Political Liberalism! John Rawls at 100! What made John Rawls great is not just that A Theory of Justice which he published in 1971 is a remarkable book. Indeed it fast gained recognition as a major contribution to Western political philosophy and analytical philosophy generally. But what is remarkable is that rather than
becoming an attendant to the vast structure he elaborated in A Theory of Justice, Rawls transformed it. That's the first remarkable thing. The second remarkable thing is how he transformed it.

The changes Rawls made to his original theory were significant, but they were also limited. It's helpful to see it not as a demolition but a redesignation. The main thing Rawls changed was the function of his theory. In Political Liberalism, 1993, Rawls moves from a moral theory about social and economic justice to a more political theory contingently appropriate to modern liberal democracies.

Think of it as a master craftsperson building a coffee table. Then, after years of reflection, changing it's function - now it is a bench. The craftsperson does make some structural changes, but the main transformation is a redesignation of function. This extraordinary transformation from early Rawls to late Rawls is one of several important points discussed in this video.

📌 What you will find in this video -
00:00 John Rawls at 100! Why even critics are fond of him.
01:05 John Rawls the political philosopher - what were his qualities?
01:27 The one big mistake Rawls never made! (The range of application of Rawls's theory)
03:28 What makes Rawls great? How Rawls moved from A Theory of Justice 1971 to Political Liberalism 1993.
06:55 Why John Rawls's Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism remain relevant even if we reject Rawls's arguments.

In a future of video I will discuss in an accessible way Rawls's theory in detail, covering Rawls's famous devices and concepts, including the veil of ignorance, justice as fairness, the difference principle, and some of the so called communitarian and other objections to Rawls.

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#vladvexlershow offers a guide to surviving the 21st century. Surviving it politically, culturally, aesthetically, and coming away with a vision of the world that is at once truthful but also hopeful.

Professionally, I am a philosopher working in ethics and musicology. Some current projects include 1. What it means for philosophers to be funny.  2. Isaiah Berlin’s political ideas. 3. Nietzsche’s moral psychology. 4. Laughter in absolute music. I am currently writing a book about Isaiah Berlin.

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[ninirema]

Dear great gentle.
very sweet good morning
super lecture.

[Handle]

I highly appreciate your more recent videos, but this is the one that made me subscribe. I look forward to a time when you can speak more on Rawls, and all the other things you so obviously love.

[MarkGoddard-ybyy]

I found his Theory to be the most beautiful in the whole of moral philosophy. I had read Nozick's work prior to Rawls so approached the work critically and It took me a while to think through the theory and its implications. I've always seen his later work as an extension of the theory though particularly the Law of Peoples!

[VladVexler]

What do you think about Rawls? Leave me a comment below!

📌 What you will find in this video -
00:00 John Rawls at 100! Why even critics are fond of him.
01:05 John Rawls the political philosopher - what were his qualities?
01:27 The one big mistake Rawls never made! (The range of application of Rawls's theory)
03:28 What makes Rawls great? How Rawls moved from A Theory of Justice 1971 to Political Liberalism 1993.
06:55 Why John Rawls's Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism remain relevant even if we reject Rawls's arguments.

[danwylie-sears]

I don't imagine that, if I could think as well as I wish I could, my theories could be air-dropped into a military conflict zone and solve everything by giving the victims all the arguments they need to demonstrate that the bad guys are wrong. Instead, I like to imagine that, if I could think as well as I wish I could and my theories could be air-dropped fifty years into the past, the conflict wouldn't have developed the way it did. Even bad guys have to formulate understandings of the world. The have to use theoretical frameworks. The test of my ideas, as I see it, is whether a bad guy who considers them fairly would find them persuasive. I don't start with any premise like "democracy is good". I start with premises like "given the existence of modern weapons, unlimited conflict is catastrophic for everyone, even the relative winners".

It will come as no surprise that I haven't gotten very far. If my writings could be air-dropped into 1972, nothing much about 2022 would change. But that doesn't mean the project is impossible, only that I'm not the right kind of extraordinary genius to complete it successfully on the first try.

[SomeOne-mpym]

I spent 3 semesters in independent study on Rawls....The most fun and the most difficult part of my undergraduate studies. My final paper was compared Theory of Justice with the Soviet Constitution.

[mathyys]

Idealization or rather false-consciousness ?