Rawls’s ‘public reason’ is the dominant political conception in contemporary liberal societies. It hinges on ideas of reciprocity and neutrality that may lead to unsatisfactory decisions in hard cases of disagreement, especially on religious issues. Taking the moves from a well-known religious controversial case decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the “crucifix case”, I try to confront the views of some contemporary authors who move by and large within the Rawlsian paradigm of public reason. On the one hand, I try to discuss and emphasize their main theoretical features and conjecture in some cases what their positions with respect to the crucifix case might be. On the other hand, building to some extent some sketchy picture of a perfectionist alternative view, I propose some alternative arguments to support the ECHR’s arguments and conclude by opposing the Rawlsian ‘reasonableness as reciprocity’ view and a perfectionist-oriented view of reasonableness as ‘the right way of living’.

EXCELLENCE DESPITE DISAGREEMENT. A REASONABLE CONCEPTION?

MANGINI, Michele
2017-01-01

Abstract

Rawls’s ‘public reason’ is the dominant political conception in contemporary liberal societies. It hinges on ideas of reciprocity and neutrality that may lead to unsatisfactory decisions in hard cases of disagreement, especially on religious issues. Taking the moves from a well-known religious controversial case decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the “crucifix case”, I try to confront the views of some contemporary authors who move by and large within the Rawlsian paradigm of public reason. On the one hand, I try to discuss and emphasize their main theoretical features and conjecture in some cases what their positions with respect to the crucifix case might be. On the other hand, building to some extent some sketchy picture of a perfectionist alternative view, I propose some alternative arguments to support the ECHR’s arguments and conclude by opposing the Rawlsian ‘reasonableness as reciprocity’ view and a perfectionist-oriented view of reasonableness as ‘the right way of living’.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
EXCELLENCE DESPITE DISAGREEMENT-mangini(2).pdf

non disponibili

Tipologia: Documento in Post-print
Licenza: NON PUBBLICO - Accesso privato/ristretto
Dimensione 378.92 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
378.92 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11586/193299
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact