Dilemmas of the Public Nature of Philosophical and Religious Arguments in the Liberalism of John Rawls

Abstract

The paper presents the most significant critiques against the liberal political philosophy of John Rawls when addressing the problem of the public nature of the philosophical and religious arguments in the contemporary pluralistic society. Such criticism expresses the dilemmas of the Rawlsian approach at the moment of its practical implementation. It also suggests that since the author maintains certain suspicious regarding the potential of his arguments to destabilize a democratic society, he is giving to them a semi-public status in the political debate. Accordingly, the paper highlights the serious difficulty of establishing a liberal proposal of justice that bypasses the whole question of good.