5 - Criticisms of A Theory of Justice

Summary

Given the absolute centrality of Rawls's work to contemporary political philosophy, it would be impossible to attempt anything like a comprehensive survey of the secondary literature which now contains many thousands of works. Instead we will focus on a few themes that have figured prominently in the critical literature. In the first section we will consider some criticisms of the idea of reflective equilibrium and Rawls's method of justification. This will highlight an important contrast between how Rawls conceives of the project of justice as fairness and a common understanding of the tasks of moral philosophy. The second and third sections will examine the so-called “communitarian” critique of Rawls. There are several distinct views that are often given this label, and we will focus on two of the most important. This will bring out more clearly how Rawls thinks about the virtue of justice and the degree of flexibility and sensitivity to different circumstances that he allows. In the last two sections we will consider two criticisms that focus on economic justice – first the libertarianism of Robert Nozick and then the radical egalitarianism of G. A. Cohen. This will allow us to bring out more clearly how Rawls thinks about distributive justice and the contrast between justice as fairness and luck egalitarianism.

FOUNDATIONALISM AND REFLECTIVE EQUILIBRIUM

In the preface to A Theory of Justice Rawls comments that “I have avoided extensive methodological discussions…Occasionally there are methodological comments and asides, but for the most part I try to work out a substantive theory of justice.”