[Garak]

John Rawls is pretty much the intellectual founder of modern American liberalism

[PRND21]

"John Rawls believes that every member of a society should enjoy equal liberties. He believes that a society can be just and fair only if all members enjoy equal freedom. At the very least, a just society must ensure that all of its members start out on equal footing. A good society should make sure that the least advantaged members receive the greatest benefits. The highest priority should be to serve the most disadvantaged member. The interests of the most advantaged member of society should be government's lowest priority."

From an article on Bioethics.

[July 4th]

I had to read some of this guy's stuff in my political science classes as an undergrad. Those readings were - by far - my least favorite.

[SlightOfTongue]

Hooray!!! One down, only 2 billion + to go!!!!!!!!!

[paulklenk]

Will his brother Lou be singing at the funeral?

Let me know, baby.

Paul

[ppaul]

This garbage was required reading when I was in college.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Man, and I didn't even know he was sick...

[CIApilot]

Studied under him at Harvard and M.I.T. That stuff was hip at the time. It's taken years to purge that cr** out of my life.

[SkyPilot]

In A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to use a constructivist technique similar to the one Kant used in the formulation of the categorical imperative for his moral philosophy. This technique, which Rawls hopes will show us the underpinnings of what we can all conceive us as a just state, is the so-called "veil of ignorance." By conceiving of ourselves as potential constructors of a mythical just future society, but being ignorant of our racial, social, and economic position within that society, Rawls strips away all those pieces of information he considers to be irrelevant to questions of justice.

Again, the use of many words to say nothing. Today, Harvard students write a thesis titled: "A Neo-Deconstructionist Paradigm of Pseudo-Conformity and Complex Refutation of Metaphysics.

If you say this is rabble--the "enlightened" ones say you "don't get it." Just as you clouded thinkers do not understand how framed dung is wonderful artistic expression.

Rawls was not a thinker--but instead he constructed an elaborate ruse to justify himself and his world view.

This is what a thinking man writes.

[exnavy]

To bad for Johnnie, God is not a liberal.

[egomeimihi]

Rawls was the chief proponent of "reflexive equilibrium" as a methodology in Ethics. The basic idea was that a balance or middle ground should be sought between moral theory and moral "data" (i.e. our intuitive moral judgements). Having been exposed to this methodology in the college classroom, I humbly submit that it amounts in practice to the worst kind of sophistry, since virtually any moral principle can be invalidated simply by showing an hypothetical example (divorced from any meaningful context) in which a seemingly obvious intuitive moral judgement is formed contrary to it. The practical result of such a methodology is the denial of any moral absolutes, and the conclusion that the best moral philosophers are the cleverest (though not necessarily the wisest). Would that Rawls' philosophy, like himself, suffer a long overdue demise.

[Sam Cree]

"John Rawls, influential political philosopher, dead at 81"

Probably should read: "John Rawls, influential socialist, dead at 81"

"Rawls is considered by many to be the most important political philosopher of the second half of the 20th century and a powerful advocate of the liberal perspective."

Well, he was an important "political philosopher" in the same way that Karl Marx was important. No wonder they admire him so at Harvard. I have to say, this is one of the few times I have seen academia come right out and (almost, but not quite) admit that when they say "liberalism," they mean socialism.

This whole article really reinforces my low opinion of the ivy league.

[Sam Cree]

Kind of sickening to read how many honors academia piled on this guy.

[Bahbah]

Well, now that I have learned about him, I certainly will not miss him.

[laredo44]

Few if any modern philosophers have had as decisive an impact on how we think about justice.

One of the more depressing depressing sentences I've seen published.

[AdvisorB]

Maybe the good professor just couldn't take the
GOP's recent takeover of the US Senate. This election
was a repudiation of the kind of liberalism that
Rawls spawned in his ivory tower.

[Doctor Stochastic]

In "A Theory of Justice," Rawls sets forth the proposition that "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. Therefore, in a just society the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests."

It's good to see that you understand that individual liberties are the foundation are liberalism.

[diotima]

Ping

[Jim Noble]

>>argued persuasively for a political philosophy based on equality and individual rights<<

A political system based on equality cannot allow any individual rights.

[Revelation 911]

buh-bye

[beckett]

Mundus vult decipi (All the world wants to be deceived)

RIP John Rawls