| Popis: |
Chapter 6 takes up the political sociology behind the proposal of John Rawls for justification-by-constitution (“the liberal principle of legitimacy”). That proposal depends on a prior premise that some or other discrete set of constitutional essentials can register as reasonably acceptable to a wide preponderance of inhabitants of a liberal free society, engaging them all as presumptively reasonable. This chapter looks into what the Rawlsian materials have to say or suggest about further beliefs or assumptions required to make that a sociologically realistic possibility (a “realistic utopia”). Ideas will come into play both of liberal common grounds and of liberal acceptance of burdens of judgment leading to tolerance for disagreement. Those ideas of liberal reason will not suffice, however, to finish the job. Additionally required is an attribution to members of a society stably under liberal democratic law of a certain disposition of passion beyond reason—sometimes named by Rawls as “civility,” and distinguished by others under names such as “sacrifice” and “gift.” |
