Premium
Overlapping Consensus Thin and Thick: J ohn R awls and S imone W eil
Author(s) -
Heifetz Aviad,
Minelli Enrico
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
philosophical investigations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1467-9205
pISSN - 0190-0536
DOI - 10.1111/phin.12123
Subject(s) - ethos , politics , liberalism , economic justice , democracy , soul , classical liberalism , sociology , social justice , political science , law and economics , theology , law , philosophy
J ohn R awls and S imone W eil presented two distinct conceptions of political justice, aimed at articulating a common ethos in an inherently heterogeneous society. The terms of the former, chiefly concerned with the distribution of primary goods, underwrite much of today's W estern democracies political liberalism. The terms of the latter, chiefly concerned with the way interaction is organised in social activities in view of the body and soul's balancing pairs of needs, are less well known. We explain the sense in which the overlapping consensus in W eil's notion of political justice is “thicker”, and may thus deserve more attention – alongside that of R awls – for substantiating a democratic ethos within political liberalism.