Legitimate, But Unjust. Just, But Illegitimate: Rawls on Political Legitimacy

Philosophy and Social Criticism, 42 (2): 132-153, 2016

PluriCourts Research Paper No. 16-02

41 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2016 Last revised: 16 Mar 2016

See all articles by Silje Langvatn

Silje Langvatn

PluriCourts, University of Oslo

Date Written: October 15, 2015

Abstract

The article offers a reconstruction of John Rawls views on political legitimacy, from A Theory of Justice to his late writings on political liberalism. It argues that Rawls had three conceptions of legitimacy, not two as one might expect based on the distinction between his two major works. Its argument is that the most radical change in Rawls’ thinking about legitimacy occurs in ‘Introduction to the Paperback Edition’ and ‘The Idea of Public Reason Revisited’. Here Rawls assumes that there can be a reasonable pluralism not only of comprehensive doctrines, but also of political liberal conceptions of justice. As a consequence, the standard of political legitimacy is no longer specified as sufficient justice relative to justice as fairness, but instead as sufficient justice relative to a family of political conceptions of justice – a family which in turn is animated by an ideal of public reasoning about constitutional matters and matters of basic justice. The article also shows how Rawls’ late ideal of public reason is grounded in the need for legitimate constitutional government.

Keywords: Political legitimacy, legitimacy, John Rawls, public reason, political liberalism, constitutional liberal democracy

Suggested Citation

Langvatn, Silje, Legitimate, But Unjust. Just, But Illegitimate: Rawls on Political Legitimacy (October 15, 2015). Philosophy and Social Criticism, 42 (2): 132-153, 2016, PluriCourts Research Paper No. 16-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2717515

Silje Langvatn (Contact Author)

PluriCourts, University of Oslo ( email )

P.O. Box 6706
St. Olavs plass 5
0130 Oslo
Norway

HOME PAGE: http://www.jus.uio.no/ior/english/people/aca/siljala/index.html

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