Harvard philosopher John Rawls’s name is not a household word, but it is unusually well-known around universities. Students often assume he must have been dead for many years, like the other great philosophers. A student told me that he and some Harvard friends once looked up the name in the phone book, and called to ask Mrs. Rawls about her great deceased (so they assumed) husband. Mard Rawls simply put John Rawls on the line. In truth, John Rawls died just a few months ago.
Rawls is being remembered as the greatest political philosopher of the twentieth century. This might be surprising if one thought only about the conventional politics that he defended. In his most famous book, A Theory of Justice, he attempted to find a widely acceptable moral basis for two broad kinds of social and political institutions. First, he argued for the non-negotiable importance of a familiar list of equal basic liberties. These include freedom of expression, religion, conscience, property, and political participation. In our political culture, this is a standard list of valuable liberties, even across party lines. Second, he argued that justice requires arranging society so that the poorest citizens will be kept as well-off as possible. This approach to justice is certainly controversial, but, apart from some innovative details in Rawls’s version, it is not a new idea. It resembles the traditional views of many liberal Democrats.
So why did A Theory of Justice turn the world of moral and political philosophy on its ear? In one common explanation, the book appeared in 1971, when college life was feeling, well, academic—disconnected from urgent matters of gender, race, and war. Rawls’s approach to political philosophy turned away from the academically fashionable view that philosophy was limited to logical and conceptual clarification. He confronted the great question of social justice head-on, striking a chord with activists who were fighting against the sterility of academe. But there is a puzzle about this story, this emphasis on Rawls’s direct engagement with moral issues. When the book came out students and faculty were clamoring for “relevance” in their studies. It is true that A Theory of Justice was less sterile than most philosophy (written in English) of the preceding decades. On the other hand, Rawls himself studiously avoided joining the controversies that rocked American society in the 1960s. His defense of civil disobedience and conscientious refusal to obey certain laws was an exception; even there, he never said how these principles applied to current events. The book (unlike the man, I’m told) said nothing directly about the current civil rights controversies, or about the Vietnam War (the book was mostly finished by the time Vietnam sent students into the streets), or about feminism. And yet intellectuals moved by those events were galvanized by the idea that...
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Jina la mwanafalsafa wa Harvard John Rawls si neno la nyumbani, lakini linajulikana sana katika vyuo vikuu. Mara nyingi wanafunzi hufikiri kwamba ni lazima awe amekufa kwa miaka mingi, kama wanafalsafa wengine wakubwa. Mwanafunzi mmoja aliniambia kwamba yeye na marafiki wengine wa Harvard mara moja walitafuta jina hilo katika kitabu cha simu, na walizungumza na Bi Rawls kuhusu mume wake aliyekufa (kwa hiyo walidhani) mume. Mard Rawls tu kuweka John Rawls juu ya mstari. Kwa kweli, John Rawls alikufa miezi michache tu iliyopita. Rawls anakumbukwa kuwa mwanafalsafa mkubwa zaidi wa kisiasa wa karne ya ishirini. Hii inaweza kuwa ya kushangaza kama mtu alifikiri tu juu ya siasa za kawaida ambazo alitetea. Katika kitabu chake maarufu, A Theory of Justice, alijaribu kupata msingi wa kimaadili unaokubalika kwa wingi kwa aina mbili kuu za taasisi za kijamii na kisiasa. Kwanza, alisisitiza umuhimu usioweza kujadiliwa wa orodha ya kawaida ya uhuru wa msingi sawa. Hizi zatia ndani uhuru wa kujieleza, dini, dhamiri, mali, na kushiriki katika siasa. Katika utamaduni wetu wa kisiasa, hii ni orodha ya kawaida ya uhuru wa thamani, hata katika mistari ya chama. "Kwanza, alisema kwamba ""haki inahitaji kupanga jamii ili wananchi maskini waweze kuishi maisha mazuri.""" Njia hii ya haki ni hakika utata, lakini, mbali na baadhi ya maelezo ya ubunifu katika toleo Rawls ya, si wazo jipya. Inafanana na maoni ya jadi ya wanademokrasia wengi wa uhuru. Kwa hiyo kwa nini kitabu A Theory of Justice kiligeuza ulimwengu wa falsafa ya maadili na kisiasa? Kitabu hicho kilitolewa mwaka 1971 wakati maisha ya chuo kikuu yalipokuwa yakihisi kuwa yameachana na masuala ya jinsia, jamii na vita. Njia ya Rawls ya falsafa ya kisiasa iligeuka mbali na maoni ya kisayansi ya mtindo kwamba falsafa ilikuwa imepunguzwa kwa ufafanuzi wa mantiki na dhana. Alikabili suala kubwa la haki ya kijamii moja kwa moja, akishirikiana na wanaharakati ambao walikuwa wakipigana dhidi ya utata wa chuo kikuu. Lakini kuna fumbo kuhusu hadithi hii, mkazo huu juu ya ushiriki wa moja kwa moja wa Rawls na masuala ya maadili. Wakati kitabu hicho kilipochapishwa wanafunzi na walimu walikuwa wakidai "kufaa" katika masomo yao. Ni kweli kwamba A Theory of Justice ilikuwa isiyo na uzazi kama falsafa nyingi (ziliandikwa kwa Kiingereza) za miongo iliyotangulia. Kwa upande mwingine, Rawls mwenyewe aliepuka kwa bidii kujiunga na mabishano yaliyotatanisha jamii ya Marekani katika miaka ya 1960. Ulinzi wake wa uasi wa kiraia na kukataa kwa dhamiri kutii sheria fulani ulikuwa tofauti; hata hivyo, hakuwahi kusema jinsi kanuni hizo zilivyohusu matukio ya sasa. Kitabu hicho (kinyume na mtu huyo, nilijulishwa) hakikusema chochote moja kwa moja juu ya mabishano ya sasa ya haki za kiraia, au juu ya Vita vya Vietnam (kitabu hicho kilikuwa kimekamilika wakati Vietnam ilipopeleka wanafunzi barabarani), au juu ya uwanadamu. "Wanafalsafa waliohamasishwa na matukio hayo walichochewa na wazo kwamba kwa $ 19.95 tu kwa mwaka, kupata upatikanaji wa masuala mapya na maktaba ya miongo kadhaa kwenye tovuti yetu. """ Kwa $ 35 kwa mwaka, kupata masuala mapya alitoa kwa mlango wako na upatikanaji wa makumbusho yetu kamili online.