Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:58:00.410Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rawls and Kantian Constructivism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2012

Alexander Kaufman
Alexander Kaufman*
Affiliation:
School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia
*
E-mail: akaufman@uga.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

John Rawls's account of Kantian constructivism is perhaps his most striking contribution to ethics. In this paper, I examine the relation between Rawls's constructivism and its foundation in Kantian intuitions. In particular, I focus on the progressive influence on Rawls's approach of the Kantian intuition that the substance of morality is best understood as constructed by free and equal people under fair conditions. Rawls's focus on this Kantian intuition, I argue, motivates the focus on social contract that grounds both his accounts of the original position and of reflective equilibrium. Critics, including Onora O'Neill and Larry Krasnoff, object that Rawls's view distorts various aspects of Kantian moral reasoning. I argue that these objections (i) exaggerate the distinctions between Kant's and Rawls's decision procedures and (ii) reflect an unnecessarily constricted view of Kant's moral thought.

Keywords

ethical constructivismjustificationKantmoralityRawls
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 08 June 2012 , pp. 227 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © Kantian Review 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barry, Brian (1989) Theories of Justice. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, G. A. (2008) Rescuing Justice and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, Samuel (2007) Rawls. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Jr., Thomas E. (2002) Human Welfare and Moral Worth: Kantian Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
James, Aaron (2005) ‘Constructing Justice for Existing Practice: Rawls and the Status Quo’. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 33/3, 281–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, Aaron (2007) ‘Constructivism about Practical Reasons’. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 74/2, 302–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, I. (1996) Practical Philosophy. Trans. and ed. Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Alexander (1999) Welfare in the Kantian State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine M. (1996) The Sources of Normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine M. (2008) The Constitution of Moral Agency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasnoff, Larry (1999) ‘How Kantian is Constructivism?’. Kant-Studien, 90, 385–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neill, Onora (1975) Acting On Principle: An Essay in Kantian Ethics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
O'Neill, Onora (1989) Constructions of Reason. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
O'Neill, Onora (2008) ‘Constructivism in Rawls and Kant’. In Samuel Freeman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Rawls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 347–367.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (1951) ‘Outline of a Decision Procedure for Ethics’. Philosophical Review, 60/2, 177–197, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1955) ‘Two Concepts of Rules’. Philosophical Review, 64/1, 3–32, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 20–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1958) ‘Justice as Fairness’. Philosophical Review, 67/2, 164–194, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 47–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1963a) ‘Constitutional Liberty and the Concept of Justice’. In Nomos, vol. 6, Justice. New York: Atherton Press), pp. 98–125, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 73–95.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (1963b) ‘The Sense of Justice’. Philosophical Review, 72/3, 281–305, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 96–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1964) ‘Legal Obligation and the Duty of Fair Play’. In Sidney Hook (ed.), Law and Philosophy: A Symposium (New York: New York University Press), pp. 3–18. Repr. in Rawls 1999: 117–29.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (1967) ‘Distributive Justice’. In Peter Laslett and W. G. Runciman (eds), Politics, Philosophy, and Society. Oxford: Blackwell), Repr. in Rawls 1999: 130–53.Google Scholar
Rawls, John ([1971] 1999) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1971) ‘Justice as Reciprocity’. In S. Gorowitz (ed.), John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism, with Critical Essays. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs Merrill), Repr. in Rawls 1999: 190–224.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (1975) ‘The Independence of Moral Theory’. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 48, 5–22, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 286–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1980) ‘Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory’. Journal of Philosophy, 77, 515–572, Repr. in Rawls 1999: 303–58.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (1999) Collected Papers, ed. Samuel Freeman Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (n.d.) ‘Lectures on Kant's Ethics’. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Scanlon, T. M. (1998) What we Owe to Each Other. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Scheffler, Samuel (2003) ‘Rawls and Utilitarianism’. In Samuel Freeman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Rawls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 426–459.Google Scholar