159 - Political liberalism, justice as fairness as

Summary

Rawls introduced the phrase “political liberalism” to distinguish his own account of liberalism from what he called “comprehensive liberalism,” which denotes a liberal theory of politics rooted in a “comprehensive doctrine,” or a doctrine that is at least partially comprehensive. As Rawls explains, modern political thinkers “hoped to establish a basis of moral knowledge independent of ecclesiastical authority” that could be grasped by ordinary people, and that could be used “to develop the full range of concepts and principles in terms of which to characterize the requirements of moral life” (PL xxvi). In this type of theory, political principles are derived from the “basis of moral knowledge,” suggesting that in this view political philosophy is “applied moral philosophy” (JF 14). Although Rawls does not explicitly mention it, many liberals such as J. S. Mill envisioned that the establishment of liberal forms of politics and related changes in the law and economic relationships would be accompanied by a cultural transformation, as society became increasingly secular and religious and other traditional sources of values and identity would atrophy. The widespread acceptance of liberal comprehensive doctrines, then, would support liberal political institutions.