Rawls's political postmodernism

John Rawls has recently shifted to a "freestanding" or "political" liberalism from his earlier "comprehensive" and "moral" liberalism. I argue that this move is based on several key features that make Rawlsian liberal pluralism indelibly postmodern. Two of the more obvious features are the denial of foundationalism and the rejection of a truth status for public-sphere justifications of the basic political structure. In conclusion, I suggest that a late-modern postliberalism is a viable alternative. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

评罗尔斯的《政治自由主义》

政治哲学是当代西方哲学中最活跃和引人注目的领域 ,近几十年来 ,著名的思想家和重要的论著不断涌现。我国学术界在这方面的翻译、介绍工作相当积极、多产 ,尽管如此 ,由于起步很晚 ,不少重要篇章至今尚未译 ,本栏目将择要选介 ,以期研究者和读者能对当代西方政治哲学的脉络和进展有一全面、深入了解。哈贝马斯访华 ,进一步激起了对他的思想的关注 ;当代政治哲学中 ,平等问题和正义问题一样处于中心地位。本栏目的介绍工作从这两个话题做起。     

A Critique of Frankfurt-Libertarianism

Most libertarians think that some version of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP) is true. A number of libertarians, which I call ‘Frankfurt-libertarians,’ think that they need not embrace any version of PAP. In this paper, I examine the writings of one such Frankfurt-libertarian, Eleonore Stump, for her evaluation of the impact of Frankfurt-style counterexamples (FSCs) to PAP. I show how, contrary to her own claims, Stump does need a PAP-like principle for her account of free action. I briefly argue that this discussion also goes some distance to showing that any Frankfurt-libertarian is in a similar position regarding the need for some PAP-like principle. If I am correct, then Frankfurt-libertarians must either renounce their incompatibilism or concede that FSCs fail to show all PAP-like principles to be false.

Kantian Schemata: A Critique Consistent with the Critique

Kant posits the schema as a hybrid bridging the generality of pure concepts and the particularity of sensible intuitions. However, I argue that countenancing such schemata leads to a third‐man regress. Siding with those who think that the mid‐way posit of the Critique of Pure Reason's schematism section is untenable, my diagnosis is that Kant's transcendental inquiry goes awry because it attempts to analyse a form/matter union that is primitive. I therefore sketch a nonrepresentational stance aimed at respecting this primitivity.     

Critical remarks on Rawls's burdens of judgement

I examine the role of the burdens of judgement argument in Rawls's defence of the claim that liberalism cannot be based on a comprehensive doctrine. According to Rawls, the burdens of judgement make it very unlikely that most individuals can agree on anything more than a purely political morality. I argue that the argument does not succeed. I concentrate on the last three burdens which are specifically about problems of reaching normative agreement. Firstly, I argue that Rawls's claim that modern society inevitably gives rise to a diversity of values is not convincing since for every claim of divergence a counterclaim of convergence can be provided. Secondly, I provide examples of plausible agreement on partial comprehensive doctrines. Thirdly, I argue that liberalism must rely on at least one partial comprehensive doctrine, namely, the value of autonomous choice. I conclude that the burdens of judgement argument does not demonstrate that liberalism cannot be based on comprehensive moral foundations.     

Meritocracy: A Critique

Herpes Simplex, by T. Natasha Posner, The Experience of Illness Series, London: Routledge, 1998, 143 pages, paperback £13.99     

A Critique of Information Ethics

Luciano Floridi presents Information Ethics (IE) as an alternative to traditional moral theories. IE consists of two tenets. First, reality can be interpreted at numerous, mutually consistent levels of abstraction, the highest of which is information. This level, unlike the others, applies to all of reality. Second, everything, insofar as it is an information object, has some degree of intrinsic value and hence moral dignity. I criticize IE, arguing that Floridi fails to show that the moral community should be expanded beyond beings capable of suffering or having preferences. Next, I look at Floridi’s extended case against consequentialism generally and utilitarianism in particular. I try to show that his criticisms are flawed. Third, I argue that, for the most part, it is not clear what IE’s practical implications are. I conclude with a critical discussion of the one area of information ethics, traditionally conceived, that Floridi has written about at length, privacy.     

A Critique of Deep Ecology

Abstract  Our environmental crisis is commonly explained as a product of a set of attitudes and beliefs about the world which have been developed by post-Cartesian technological society. Deep ecologists claim that the crisis can only be overcome by adopting an alternative non-technological paradigm, such as can be discovered in non-Western cultures. In this paper I (a) express misgivings about the use of the expression 'Paradigm' by deep ecologists, (b) question the claim that a science-based world-view inevitably fosters manipulative and exploitative attitudes to the natural world, (c) suggest that non-technological cultures do not necessarily provide exemplary and superior models for relating to the natural world, and (d) defend a scientific naturalism as a satisfying way of realising our unity with the natural world.     

Rawls's Wide View of Public Reason: Not Wide Enough

Res Publica - What sorts of reasons are i) required and ii) morally acceptable when citizens in a pluralist liberal democracy undertake to resolve pressing political issues? This paper presents and...     

Postmodernism: A Feminist Critique

In this article the author suggests that progress in philosophy can be conceived through contemporary French theories that propose a new, polysemantic way of thinking. Postmodern philosophy has tried to renew the meaning of the subject, of the subject's identity, and of language and communication. The author believes that the postmodern, feminist approach to those concepts represents significant progress in philosophy. It is, in fact, exactly in the context of feminism—conceived of not just as a women's sociopolitical or scientific activity but as a broad theoretical approach to many areas—that Western philosophy has acquired its most explicit and adequate meaning. A crucial example here is the new historicophilosophical analysis of the concept of gender. The author appeals to Lipovetsky, Lacan, Derrida, Kristeva, and other thinkers to show how postmodern feminism helps to overcome the binary vision of the contemporary world and the dichotomic composition of earlier philosophical thought.     

A Critique of Group Therapy Research

In this randomized clinical trial, we compared time-limited group psychotherapy and time-limited individual psychotherapy. Ninety-eight nonpsychotic psychiatric outpatients participated. There were five therapists, all highly experienced with brief therapies. Significant improvement and maintenance of improvement occurred in both treatments. Although both treatments were quite beneficial on a number of our subjective measures, there was a clear preference by patients for the individual therapy. Recommendations are offered for improving the acceptability of group treatment approaches.     

A Meta-Ethical Critique of Care Ethics

A meta-ethical analysis demonstrates that care ethics is a grounded in a distinct mode of moral reasoning. This is comprised primarily of the rejection of principles such as impartiality, and the endorsement of emotional or moral virtues such as compassion, as well as the notion that the preservation of relations may override the interests of the individuals involved in them. The main conclusion of such a meta-ethical analysis is that such meta-ethical foundations of care ethics are not sound. Reasonable alternatives for care ethics may be its formulation as an additional principle within an established principlist framework, or the move to a dialogical ethics, where the good to be acted upon is not decided in advance but rather critically discussed and established within the encounter of the parties involved. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

情感与罗尔斯公共理性再释

个人自主与"强迫自由"之间的紧张是后现代政治哲学所面临的重要困境:一方面,现代政治哲学预设了个体的自由和自主;另一方面,人可能是无知、自私和反复无常的,所以自由的内涵往往被精英们所定义,这种"强迫自由"沦为他治和权威。罗尔斯的公共理性是解决这种困境的一种尝试,他论证了一种不依赖于分歧观念的政治正义观,以此兼顾人的自主与政治的共识。不过,罗尔斯的方案缺乏实践的可行性。本文重新思考情感在公共理性所扮演的角色,从情感角度修正罗尔斯的理论。