Anyone familiar with John Rawls?

[Oswy]

Someone at another forum has suggested to me that Rawls is a potential bridge between liberalism and Marxism but I have no idea how meaningful this is? Anyone here in a position to judge or offer views of John Rawls?

[BobKKKindle$]

Rawls is best known for the concept of the "veil of ignorance". Rawls argued that if someone was given the task of deciding on how wealth should be distributed in a society of which they were a member, but they were not informed of their social position in that society, they would opt for an equitable distribution of wealth and the outcome would be morally legitimate, because they would be faced with the risk of ending up in the lowest income group and so would have an incentive to limit the level of inequality to what is necessary to make society function.

[Apeiron]

I'm not too familiar with Rawls, but I've never heard it argued that he has a connection with Marxism.. as far as I know, his project was to ressurect liberal political theory within the tradition of 20th Century analytic philosophy. I'd be interested to hear his connections to Marxism, if anyone cares to argue this position...

[Matty_UK]

Rawls is best known for the concept of the "veil of ignorance". Rawls argued that if someone was given the task of deciding on how wealth should be distributed in a society of which they were a member, but they were not informed of their social position in that society, they would opt for an equitable distribution of wealth and the outcome would be morally legitimate, because they would be faced with the risk of ending up in the lowest income group and so would have an incentive to limit the level of inequality to what is necessary to make society function.

Problem with that is, distribution of wealth is not decided in such a way so it's a pretty meaningless hypothetical-liberal idealism, a far cry from marxist materialism.

[fabiansocialist]

I'm not too familiar with Rawls, but I've never heard it argued that he has a connection with Marxism.. as far as I know, his project was to ressurect liberal political theory within the tradition of 20th Century analytic philosophy. I'd be interested to hear his connections to Marxism, if anyone cares to argue this position...

I had his book, "A Theory of Justice," a while back and tried to get through it. Gave up in disgust after some pages. Another bourgeois "philosopher" playing with meaningless ideas like "liberty" and "equality," which have been stripped of any real significance and exist only as ethereal, abstract concepts.

[MarxSchmarx]

Problem with that is, distribution of wealth is not decided in such a way so it's a pretty meaningless hypothetical-liberal idealism, a far cry from marxist materialism.


Another problem is that even if one were to run the risk of ending up poor, it could still make sense to risk being rich. Even if there were one rich person out of 200, the benefits of being rich could be so kick-ass, they're worth the risk of being poor. Although if I recall correctly Rawls does admit this point.

[Hyacinth]

meaningless hypothetical-liberal idealism


Another bourgeois "philosopher" playing with meaningless ideas like "liberty" and "equality," which have been stripped of any real significance and exist only as ethereal, abstract concepts.

This.

[JimFar]

John Rawls was a liberal but concerning the issue of socialism versus capitalism he was surprisingly equivocal. For him the two acceptable systems (that is the two systems most consistent with his theory of justice) were either a market socialism based on workers control, or a kind of people's capitalism in which the state actively intervened to ensure a relatively egalitarian distribution of wealth. Obviously, the real existing capitalism that we are all familiar with, doesn't come close to corresponding with either of Rawls's ideal systems.

In this respect, John Rawls was not unlike two earlier liberal philosophers: John Stuart Mill who became a kind of socialist towards the end of his life, and John Dewey, who became a non-Marxian socialist in the 1930s.

Concerning attempts relate John Rawls' theory of justice with Marxism, probably the most notable attempt is the book by University of San Diego professor Rodny Peffer, Marxism, Morality and Social Justice, which can be downloaded from his website at:

http://home.sandiego.edu/~peffer/Peffer-MarxismMorality&SocialJustice/ (http://home.sandiego.edu/%7Epeffer/Peffer-MarxismMorality&SocialJustice/)

[MrSoul]

I had his book, "A Theory of Justice," a while back and tried to get through it. Gave up in disgust after some pages. Another bourgeois "philosopher" playing with meaningless ideas like "liberty" and "equality," which have been stripped of any real significance and exist only as ethereal, abstract concepts.

actually, if you'd read any Rawls you would know that what he said about real freedom and equality was very interesting and very valid. try and get through the rest of that book if you can.

[h0lmes]

I haven't read too much Rawls but his version of contractualism seems very consistence with Marxist ideals. The veil of ignorance allows for an objective view of society as a whole and not a subjective view in which one is biased by their personal position. It is very egalitarian.