A relação entre o moral e o político em John Rawls

Abstract

The present study addresses the relation between politics and morality in John Rawls’ theory, for the purpose of contributing for the discussion about way in which a conception of justice can achieve some kind of public justification whilst the society that surrounds it is formed by a plurality of opposing convictions. The plurality of moral doctrines is a permanent fact of a democratic regime, as it is the manifestation of its free and equal citizens. Consequently, there is a diversity of defended convictions that are sometimes opposed, including those about conceptions of what is fair. From this perspective, it is up to philosophical investigations to understand the interaction between the moral and the political in view of a valid conception of justice for a well-ordered society. In this sense, it is considered that the consensus around a public conception of justice is essential when guiding basic institutions in order to obtain a fair social cooperation system. The methodology consists of a bibliographic research with consultation of the original works and translations, in addition to commentators on John Rawls’ theory. We take as reference the chronology of such author’s thinking, especially the postulates of A Theory of Justice (1971) and, subsequently, Political Liberalism (1993). From this sequence of books, we observe that the nature of the conception of justice is a fundamental element to solve the presented problem, which is accomplished through a political conception of justice. Initially, it is necessary to contextualize the Rawlsian theory, through the notions of social contract, signaling the central aspects of its character as a deontological doctrine, with emphasis on the principles of justice designed for a well-ordered society. Secondly, we approach the political focus of a conception of justice, resulting from the commonly named “political turn”, reflecting on the moral pluralism and reasonableness from the perspective of a model of political liberalism, in order to highlight the interaction that exists between the idea of reasonableness and the possibility of consensus on the terms of justice that guide the basic structure of society. Collective consensus is an essential point for the conception of justice legitimacy and, consequently, for the maintenance of democracy. Henceforth, we verify the notions in Rawls’ theory that indicate the existence of a relationship between the moral and the political. In order to deepen the understanding of the subject, we investigate the thesis of a moral foundation for political liberalism and, finally, the idea of a public conception of morality. Accordingly, we explore the central hypothesis that it is possible to envisage a public and political conception of justice that is compatible with moral pluralism and the variety of moral doctrines and that has a public conception of morality, which seems to be confirmed.