Book contents
- Rawls’s A Theory of Justice at 50
- Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries
- Rawls’s A Theory of Justice at 50
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations of and Bibliographic Information for Rawls’s Works
- Introduction
- Part I Rawls and History
- Part II Developments between A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism
- 6 On Being a “Self-Originating Source of Valid Claims”
- 7 Moral Independence Revisited
- 8 The Method of Insulation
- 9 The Stability or Fragility of Justice
- Part III Rawls, Ideal Theory, and the Persistence of Injustice
- Part IV Pluralism, Democracy, and the Future of Justice as Fairness
- References
- Index
7 - Moral Independence Revisited
A Note on the Development of Rawls’s Thought from 1977–1980 and Beyond
from Part II - Developments between A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 July 2023
- Rawls’s A Theory of Justice at 50
- Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries
- Rawls’s A Theory of Justice at 50
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations of and Bibliographic Information for Rawls’s Works
- Introduction
- Part I Rawls and History
- Part II Developments between A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism
- 6 On Being a “Self-Originating Source of Valid Claims”
- 7 Moral Independence Revisited
- 8 The Method of Insulation
- 9 The Stability or Fragility of Justice
- Part III Rawls, Ideal Theory, and the Persistence of Injustice
- Part IV Pluralism, Democracy, and the Future of Justice as Fairness
- References
- Index
Summary
Some commentators have expressed puzzlement about the influence a short paper of mine may have had on the development of John Rawls’s thought after the publication of A Theory of Justice in 1971. The issue arises because Rawls said in the Introduction to Political Liberalism that my paper had played a role in the evolution of his views, yet readers have found it difficult to understand how or why it did so. By examining some of Rawls’s published and unpublished lectures from the late 1970s and early 1980s, and drawing on correspondence I had with him during those years, I try to provide some context for his remarks about my paper and to refresh people’s memory of the issues that were on Rawls’s mind during that period. This may help to illuminate the position he eventually arrived at in Political Liberalism and some of the motivations for it.
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- Rawls’s A Theory of Justice at 50 , pp. 121 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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