Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- 25 Capabilities
- 26 Care
- 27 Catholicism
- 28 Chain connection
- 29 Circumstances of justice
- 30 Citizen
- 31 Civic humanism
- 32 Civic republicanism
- 33 Civil disobedience
- 34 Close-knitness
- 35 Cohen
- 36 Cohen, Joshua
- 37 Common good idea of justice
- 38 Communitarianism
- 39 Comprehensive doctrine
- 40 Conception of the good
- 41 Congruence
- 42 Conscientious refusal
- 43 Constitution and constitutional essentials
- 44 Constitutional consensus
- 45 Constructivism: Kantian/political
- 46 Cooperation and coordination
- 47 Cosmopolitanism
- 48 Counting principles
- 49 Culture, political vs. background
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
37 - Common good idea of justice
from C
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- 25 Capabilities
- 26 Care
- 27 Catholicism
- 28 Chain connection
- 29 Circumstances of justice
- 30 Citizen
- 31 Civic humanism
- 32 Civic republicanism
- 33 Civil disobedience
- 34 Close-knitness
- 35 Cohen
- 36 Cohen, Joshua
- 37 Common good idea of justice
- 38 Communitarianism
- 39 Comprehensive doctrine
- 40 Conception of the good
- 41 Congruence
- 42 Conscientious refusal
- 43 Constitution and constitutional essentials
- 44 Constitutional consensus
- 45 Constructivism: Kantian/political
- 46 Cooperation and coordination
- 47 Cosmopolitanism
- 48 Counting principles
- 49 Culture, political vs. background
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the law of peoples, Rawls holds that every society has a common end it tries to achieve for its members, or a set of special priorities that guide its development as a society (LP 71). Decent peoples seek to realize some comprehensive conception of the good at the societal level. For example, Rawls’s “Kazanistan” has priorities it observes, which include establishing itself as a decent people – speciically as a decent Islamic republic – that respects its religious minorities (LP 75–78). The common good idea of justice puts restrictions on a society’s pursuit of its end or priorities (LP 71).
A society’s end determines whether many opportunities are open to members. Decent societies may have state religions that controlmuch domestic policy (LP 74). Thus, members of the established religion may have privileges denied to others, though no religion is persecuted. In Kazanistan, Islam is the favored religion, so only Muslims can hold important political or judicial positions (LP 75). Nevertheless, Kazanistan may not do just anything in pursuit of its priorities. The common good idea of justice encourages peoples to pursue their ends, but it also assigns basic rights to all of their members (LP 65, 78–81, 38 n.47).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 117 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014