Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- 174 Race
- 175 Rational choice theory
- 176 Rational intuitionism
- 177 Realistic utopia
- 178 The reasonable and the rational
- 179 Reasonable hope
- 180 Reasonable pluralism
- 181 Reciprocity
- 182 Reconciliation
- 183 Redress, principle of
- 184 Relective equilibrium
- 185 Religion
- 186 Respect for persons
- 187 Right: concept of, and formal constraints of
- 188 Rights, constitutional
- 189 Rights, moral and legal
- 190 Rorty, Richard
- 191 Ross, W. D.
- 192 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- 193 Rule of law
- 194 Rules (two concepts of)
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
182 - Reconciliation
from R
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- 174 Race
- 175 Rational choice theory
- 176 Rational intuitionism
- 177 Realistic utopia
- 178 The reasonable and the rational
- 179 Reasonable hope
- 180 Reasonable pluralism
- 181 Reciprocity
- 182 Reconciliation
- 183 Redress, principle of
- 184 Relective equilibrium
- 185 Religion
- 186 Respect for persons
- 187 Right: concept of, and formal constraints of
- 188 Rights, constitutional
- 189 Rights, moral and legal
- 190 Rorty, Richard
- 191 Ross, W. D.
- 192 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- 193 Rule of law
- 194 Rules (two concepts of)
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Reconciliation is among four functions Rawls enumerates that political philosophy can play as a part of public political culture, with Hegel’s Philosophy of Right as its main historical exemplar (LHPP 10; JF 3). Rawls notes that the German word for reconciliation, Versöhnung, has a specialized meaning that Hegel distinguishes from a colloquial synonym like Ergebenheit (resignation) (LHMP 331). A political project centered around the latter might aim to show that, given the human condition or our historical predicament, our political institutions are as good as can be expected, even though they may seem seriously deficient. By contrast, a reconciliatory project attempts to show that although our social world may seem accidental or arbitrary, its institutions actually reflect the work of reason. By this, Hegel means that the institutional pillars of modern society – family, civil society, the constitutional state – are necessary for freedom (LHMP 336–340).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 707 - 708Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014