The concept of justice and equality : on the dispute between John Rawls and Gerald Cohen / Eliane Saadé.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saadé, Eliane, 1983- author.

Series:

Practical philosophy ; Volume 20.

Practical Philosophy, 2197-9243 ; Volume 20

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Justice.

Equality.

Rawls, John, 1921-2002. Theory of justice.

Rawls, John.

Cohen, G. A. (Gerald Allan), 1941-2009. Rescuing justice and equality.

Cohen, G. A.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (235 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin, [Germany] ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : De Gruyter, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Unless considered on a practical level, where a precise distribution of social goods is chosen, John Rawls’s and Gerald Cohen’s approaches to social justice cannot be complementary. Their disagreement about justice and its principles calls for a choice, which opts either for the Rawlsian theory or for the Cohenian one. What is the more plausible approach to social justice? This work compares both approaches and aims to defend Cohen’s position in the light of two considerations. It answers the philosophical question about the analysis of the idea of justice, which puts the virtue of justice in its philosophical context. It, however, presents a method everyone can apply in order to arrive at the fundamental principles of justice by employing the power of reason. An analysis of the concept of justice based on the power of reason should seek to uncover the ultimate nature of justice, which is independent of facts and of other virtues. Once exposed, the understanding of justice arrived at should inform social institutions and determine people’s daily decisions. A just society is therefore a society where just persons and just institutions exhibit the virtue of justice.

Contents:

Front matter

Foreword

Contents

Introduction

1 The Rawlsian Theory of Justice

2 A Meta-Ethical Theory: Cohen’s Idea of Justice

3 A Meta-Ethical Theory: Cohen’s Rescue of Justice

4 The Difference Principle

5 The Rescue of Equality from the Rawlsian Theory of Justice

6 Scrutinizing the Cohenian Rescue of Equality

7 The Cohenian Alternative

8 Disagreement on the Status of Principles

9 Disagreement on the Status of Facts

10 Different Understandings of Justice

Conclusion

References

Author Index

Subject Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9783110447408

3110447401

9783110448900

3110448904

OCLC:

952807347