Public reason from "summary" of A Theory of Justice, Revised Edition by John Rawls,Professor John Rawls
The idea of public reason plays a central role in the political conception of justice that I advance in this work. Public reason is the reason that individuals in a democratic society may reasonably expect one another to accept in political discussion. It is the reason that citizens should use when they deliberate about what laws and policies their society should adopt. In a pluralistic society, citizens hold a wide range of comprehensive doctrines that are incompatible with one another. Given this fact, I argue that citizens must be able to justify the laws and policies they advocate using reasons that can be shared by all members of society. These reasons are public reasons because they are accessible to everyone, regardless of their particular comprehensive doctrines. Public reason requires citizens to set aside their own personal beliefs and instead appeal to principles and values that all reasonable citizens can accept. By doing so, citizens demonstrate respect for one another as equals and create a basis for coop...
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