Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- 174 Race
- 175 Rational choice theory
- 176 Rational intuitionism
- 177 Realistic utopia
- 178 The reasonable and the rational
- 179 Reasonable hope
- 180 Reasonable pluralism
- 181 Reciprocity
- 182 Reconciliation
- 183 Redress, principle of
- 184 Relective equilibrium
- 185 Religion
- 186 Respect for persons
- 187 Right: concept of, and formal constraints of
- 188 Rights, constitutional
- 189 Rights, moral and legal
- 190 Rorty, Richard
- 191 Ross, W. D.
- 192 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- 193 Rule of law
- 194 Rules (two concepts of)
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
186 - Respect for persons
from R
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- 174 Race
- 175 Rational choice theory
- 176 Rational intuitionism
- 177 Realistic utopia
- 178 The reasonable and the rational
- 179 Reasonable hope
- 180 Reasonable pluralism
- 181 Reciprocity
- 182 Reconciliation
- 183 Redress, principle of
- 184 Relective equilibrium
- 185 Religion
- 186 Respect for persons
- 187 Right: concept of, and formal constraints of
- 188 Rights, constitutional
- 189 Rights, moral and legal
- 190 Rorty, Richard
- 191 Ross, W. D.
- 192 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- 193 Rule of law
- 194 Rules (two concepts of)
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
According to Rawls, “respect for persons…a recognition of their inherent worth and dignity…is manifest in the content [and ranking] of the principles to which we appeal” (TJ 513; cf. TJ 155, 158, 469–470, 477–478; PL 318–319). Citizens’ civility also encompasses respect: “respect for persons is shown by treating them in ways that they can see to be justified” (TJ 513; cf. 297, 455). So does citizens’ mutual reasonableness: “men [who] have a sense of justice…therefore respect one another” (TJ 513).
The importance of these expressions of respect lies downstream, Rawls suggests, from the “fundamental importance of self-respect” (PL 318). Self-respect is “perhaps the most important primary good” (TJ 386; PL 318–319), and “our self-respect . . . depends in part upon the respect shown to us by others” (CP 171; cf. TJ 155–156, 297, 477). This merely instrumental justification for respect for persons is unusual, but consistent with Rawls’s constructivism. “The theory of justice provides a rendering of [ideas about Kantian respect and human dignity] but we cannot start out from them” (TJ 513).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 723 - 724Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014