Rawl's Political Ontology
28 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2004
Abstract
The background thesis is that an implicit ontology of the people and the relation between the people and the state often shapes how we think in normative terms about politics. The paper attempts to defend that thesis in relation to Rawls. The argument is that the rejection of an image of the people as a group agent connects with his objection to utilitarianism, and the rejection of an image of the people as a mere aggregate connects with his objection to libertarianism. Rawls, it is argued, holds by an in-between picture and it is this that explains many of his most distinctive commitments.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Pettit, Philip N., Rawl's Political Ontology. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=600704
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