Rawls account of the 'original position' is subject to many criticisms from communitarian philosophers. While this account constitutes the very basis from which he derives his theory of justice, it is regarded as being flawed and thus compromises the validity of his whole theory. The criticism focuses on the fact that the concept of the original position implies a theory of person, which is, according to the communitarians, a wrong account of human experience. According to them, it namely neglects the extent to which self is constituted by the social world in which one lives and from which one derives its conception of the good, and of how to live in society. This criticism can be a powerful one, since it is able to undermine Rawls's entire theory. Thus, the claim that the original position entails a theory of person is to be examined closely. This debate is moreover crucial within political philosophy, as it constitutes the central focus of the communitarian critics on Rawls's Theory of Justice. So the question of whether the original position described by Rawls implies a theory of person, takes us to a larger debate which opposes liberal and communitarian views on how one should think about an individual's relation to his society. The main questions which arise from this debate are: does Rawls's account of the 'original position' include a theory of the person or of personal identity, that is, does it have any metaphysical claim about self? We should start by examining in detail Rawls account of the 'original position' to understand how an individual in this position is viewed, and see what role the 'original position' plays in Rawls theory.
[...] We will then see that the implications of this Rawlsian original position is considered by communitarians as implying a theory of person which greatly differs from the way they consider the individual is constituted. In this part it will also be important to understand how this critics of the theory of the person becomes the central feature of communitarian critics of Rawls' theory of justice, namely in Sandel's work. Finally, we will study the extent to which this communitarian attack does in fact undermine Rawls' theory of justice. [...]
[...] The view of the self embodied in Rawls' account of the original position does not reflect a theory of the person, but a way to understand the citizen within a liberal state. To conclude, we have seen that the self in the original position has some particular features, and that the original position is at the core of the theory of justice. We saw that communitarians consider this view as entailing a theory of person, which is wrong and undermines the theory as a whole. [...]
[...] Sandel's criticism does show that Rawls' account of the original position implies a theory of the person that is more than a mere consequence of the constraints implied by the device of the original position. He sees metaphysical claims in Rawls' account of the original position. This conclusion has consequences on the theory as a whole as it is derived from this flawed understanding of the self. However, communitarians take Rawls' account literally, and focus on this aspect of Rawls' theory. [...]
[...] Does it imply that this conception of the self constitutes a theory of the person, that is, one which does not only apply to thinking of a conception of justice? II/ The communitarian critique The communitarian critique, namely that of Sandel, precisely claims that Rawls is committed to a theory of person. We shall now consider the way in which communitarians understand the self in the original position, and examine why the theory of person they identify constitutes for them a central criticism against Rawls. [...]
[...] The original position is the standpoint from which Rawls' theory of justice is derived, starting with the two principles according to which ‘greatest equal liberty compatible with a like liberty for all', and ‘permits only those inequalities in the distribution of primary social and economic advantages that benefit everyone, in particular the worst off' We can see of what use the original position is for Rawls to design its theory of justice. We now have to consider the implication of this position on the individual. [...]
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