Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations for Rawls’s texts
- Introduction
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- 109 Law of Peoples
- 110 Law, system of
- 111 Least-advantaged position
- 112 Legitimacy
- 113 Legitimate expectations
- 114 Leibniz, G. W.
- 115 Leisure
- 116 Lexical priority: liberty, opportunity, wealth
- 117 Liberal conception of justice
- 118 Liberal people
- 119 Liberalism as comprehensive doctrine
- 120 Liberalism, comprehensive vs. political
- 121 Libertarianism
- 122 Liberty, equal worth of
- 123 Liberty of conscience
- 124 Locke, John
- 125 Love
- 126 Luck egalitarianism
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
118 - Liberal people
from L
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
- 109 Law of Peoples
- 110 Law, system of
- 111 Least-advantaged position
- 112 Legitimacy
- 113 Legitimate expectations
- 114 Leibniz, G. W.
- 115 Leisure
- 116 Lexical priority: liberty, opportunity, wealth
- 117 Liberal conception of justice
- 118 Liberal people
- 119 Liberalism as comprehensive doctrine
- 120 Liberalism, comprehensive vs. political
- 121 Libertarianism
- 122 Liberty, equal worth of
- 123 Liberty of conscience
- 124 Locke, John
- 125 Love
- 126 Luck egalitarianism
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- W
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Rawls’s “peoples” are artificial corporate moral persons or group agents (LP 23–30). They are “well-ordered,” which means the members of a people govern themselves politically through a public conception of justice (LP 4, 19, 64–67). A liberal people governs itself through a liberal political conception of justice, which assigns basic rights, liberties, and opportunities to all individuals, gives these rights, liberties, and opportunities special priority over perfectionist claims or claims of the general good, and guarantees for all citizens the primary goods necessary for effective use of their freedoms (LP 14).There are many liberal conceptions, since the ideas at their core – citizens as free and equal persons who form a society that is a fair scheme of cooperation – can be interpreted in different ways (LP 11, 14). Rawls’s generic liberalism is fleshed out in particular cases through actual democratic processes. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany are all examples of liberal peoples, despite their political differences (e.g. presidential versus parliamentary government, different taxation and redistribution schemes, France’s ban on burqas, Germany’s ban on Holocaust denial).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon , pp. 442 - 444Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014