Well-ordered societies and John Rawls' Projects in A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism

Abstract

The article deals with the differences between the social ideals found in John Rawls’s two main works, the well-ordered societies of A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism. The question is whether, in view of the differences – and, in particular, the fact that, unlike A Theory of Justice, the well-ordered society of Political Liberalism is characterized by the possible disagreement over the most reasonable conception of justice – Rawls’s projects in the two works are compatible. The conclusion is affirmative, despite the fact that some of the arguments used in A Theory of Justice in favor of justice as fairness and against rival conceptions of justice (in particular utilitarianism) did not survive the transition to Political Liberalism. In the end, the article raises doubts about the desirability of insisting, as part of recent Rawlsian literature, on the debate on institutional arrangements (such as property-owning democracy liberal socialism) whose realization depends on the general acceptance of a particular conception of justice like the one advocated by Rawls in A Theory of Justice.